*shoves the lid off a giant stone coffin, sending spiders and other crawling things running from the depths* *slowly rises from inside, coughing dust and wiping cobwebs out of my hair, squinting and hissing at the light*

Ok, ok, my Halloween analogy is a bit late, but still. I'm not dead! *picks spider off sleeve and casually throws it as far away from me as possible*

And neither is this story! I got my old computer back and am in the process of salvaging everything from the hard drive, so all my stories and fics and 'real-life' work is ok.

Massive apologies for the unintended hiatus, emergency family stuff, combined with nearly not passing my classes because of said family stuff, meant that this story kinda got buried in a crypt for a while. (Sorry, I'll stop with the spoopy jokes.)

But I'm back, this story is back, and I promise I'm not going anywhere. Now that I've assuaged your fears, let's get to the reviews!

As always, stay tuned for the Author's Notes!

Hazminelol: Yass, and here's another update! Haha, I hope you'll continue to read and enjoy! :)

WolvesRock14: Haha, be careful giving me permission to take breaks like that. I might just disappear again! ;P Hopefully not, but thank you for the encouragement regardless, it really meant and means a lot to me! :)

Regarding your review; I'm so glad you like Isaac and my characterization of him. He's an interesting one because according to the OUAT wiki, he's incredibly selfish. Not evil, I thought it was interesting to note. Just, selfish, (perhaps fatally so?) although his actions tended more towards 'evil/villainous' and playing with the idea of alignments, I feel as though he tends more towards the neutral side of things. (Either true neutral or Neutral evil, still trying to work that one out, as his intentions are never to outright murder or cause harm, just tell a good story; which, I mean, I can relate to all too well. ;))

So yeah, I'm so excited to finally have him in play and get to explore things from his perspective as both The Author, and what that means for what he's done/going through, as well as Carlos' father. Because now he can't just be selfish, now he's gotta think about someone else. But that's going too close to spoilery stuff so I'll leave him for now.

I'm glad you liked my intro of Dizzy; she's also a fun one, especially in what she brings out in others, and I'm looking forward to exploring her relationship with the gang more as well. Aziz and Mal have more in common than they realize, haha, but I'm relieved that the lighter moment wasn't too out of place, considering all the darkness to come. I try and balance it out as much as possible, so here's hoping I'll keep succeeding.

You can try and hug the VKs, but the majority of them will definitely cause you some kind of bodily harm for your efforts. ;)

Robby the Cyber Warrior: Hey! Haven't heard from you in a little while, it was great to get your review! There are definitely a lot of people in this story worth paying for what they've done, though if it's any comfort to you, they have in fact, paid in full, and those who haven't yet- will. (But I can let you have them when I'm done, if that'd make you feel better? ;))

I can't answer your question without spoiling, the most I can say is just keep reading, but I am glad you're enjoying everything in spite of the shit I put everyone through, and that you'll continue to follow along and enjoy!

BlueMoon007: I'm glad to be back, lol, even if it is after extended hiatuses. I'm really glad you enjoyed my introductions of Isaac and Dizzy. I definitely wanted them to feel familiar to their canonical selves and yet still entirely unique, hopefully I'll continue to succeed in that regard. :)

Things are definitely going to be rough for a while; I'll definitely say we're getting into the thick of things now, though how much damage is done remains to be seen. More healing than damage, if that's comforting, although it will be a slow heal.

I hope you'll continue to read and enjoy!

Nyehhhhh: Thank you for you kind words! I'm so glad you're still enjoying this story, and that you'll continue to enjoy it!

Gracfully: I'm glad you liked it! I hope you'll keep reading and enjoying! :)

A1: Sorry, didn't mean to make your name sound like a steak sauce, lol. It's just there is another reviewer using A as their alias, so to avoid confusion, for now you are A1. ;)

Thank you for your review! To clarify your one thing, yes, Mal and Daisha are/were a thing. Your Malvie heart need not break, though your heart might break in one way or another regardless.

EvietoyourMal: The repercussions will definitely be discussed, but I think for right now the biggest loss for Ben is Audrey. The Council's response is an intentional one, and I'm sorry if you felt it was somehow downplaying or disrespecting what the VKs have gone through. To clarify, they aren't comparing themselves to the VKs in a 'my trauma is bigger than yours' kind of way. More a 'trauma is complex and difficult to navigate and we should know that because, oh yeah, our trauma did/does exist, as well.' My attempted goal from this story is kind of like an ultimate 'fix it' in the sense that even the heroes we see aren't entirely as 'heroic' as they appear, and everyone needs to address the things they've experienced, because I felt it wasn't addressed enough/at all in the movies.

But yes, it is being addressed now by the Council and by the VKs (though the VKs are addressing it kicking and screaming- literally, as it were) and I hope the wait for healing and growth wasn't too horrible! :)

Guest 2.0: I'm really glad you like Mal and Daisha! I was afraid of how she/their relationship would come across and be received, but I'm happy to see you're enjoying it and her, even if it is in flashback form. I'm also really glad you liked how I introduced Dizzy. She'll also be making reappearances as I start to lay the foundations for D2.

I hope you'll continue to enjoy!

A: *carefully and gently puts your heart back together* There, there, A, it's ok, see? All in one piece again, (cue evil author laugh) perfect and ready for me to rebreak. (Kidding…partly. I sincerely apologize in advance for your heart.) –I'll look for your future reviews as A2, though you'll always be the OG 'A' to me. ;)

Guest 1: Thank you for the review! No, I am not officially crossing this fic with OUAT, just borrowing/stealing a character and sprinkling in some references for the purposes of fodder for my head cannon. :)

Codelulu-chan: Thank you for the review and kinds words! I'm glad you're enjoying this story and my pairings. Aziz and Mal actually have more in common than they realize, but for the time being, it's just a game of learning to understand each other.

Guest 2: Thank you so much for the kind words! I'm really glad you love this story so much and I hope you'll continue to read and enjoy!

FreaksDontSmile: Thank you so much for your kind words, as well as your interest in using my chapter as a kick off for your story! I had been intending to do a spin-off HP/Descendants story of my own, either as a series of one-shots or a full length using that particular chapter; however, I would be more than honored and ok with you using it for your own story, provided you credited me, and didn't directly copy what I did. That said, good luck and plentiful muses of inspiration to you if/when you go forward with the story! :)

Regarding your review, I'm really glad you love Mal/Daisha, and I have to kind of chuckle because you are one in quite a few people who fear that something bad is going to happen. Whatever would give you the idea I was going to do something harmful to my characters? ;)

I hope you'll continue to read and enjoy, and thank you again for asking about using my chapter! :)

ceara1888: Thank you for your review and the kind words! I'm sorry that it was confusing, I'd be more than happy to clarify anything you weren't sure about if you wanted to know. :) In Isaac's case, at least, he is meant to be a bit confusing, a kind of literal 'unreliable narrator,' if you will. Regardless, I hope you'll continue to read and enjoy!

shikasprincess: Hello and welcome to the story! Feel free to make yourself comfortable.

Thank you so much for your kind words, and your review. You are correct in that I haven't been developing everyone as well as I probably could/should be, and thank you for pointing it out to me. I am working my way through digging into everyone and sorting things out, both as a whole, and individuals, though right now at least plot wise, I'm laying the groundwork for Evie to start to come into her own. It's in how everyone responds to the falling apart that people's personalities grow/shine. I kind of keep forgetting that Doug exists (guilty as charged) but I agree in that he is going to be important for Evie/to Evie, and I think you make a good point as well in relation to Snow White/the dwarves, and I'll definitely make sure to address all of that when the time comes as well. :)

Thank you again, and I hope you'll continue to follow along and enjoy!

favorite Guest: Thank you for the review! Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere, and if for some reason I were ever unable to finish this story, I would definitely let you guys know. But there's no need for that, we're finally getting into the good stuff; I ain't stopping this thing till it's done! ;)

Random Reader: Thank you so much for your kind words! I'm glad you're enjoying this story and I hope you'll continue to read and enjoy. :)

FlatFox: Haha, thank you for the rousing support! Unfortunately, I don't believe I could get this published as there are copyrights in place, and I'm not sure I'd be allowed to publish this, but it means a lot that you think it could be! I hope you'll continue to follow along and enjoy!

Guest 3: I have updated!

Eliza: I'm glad you like this story so much, don't worry, the update is here!

Guest 4: Thank you, I'm glad you loved it and I hope you will continue to love it! :)

BlackRoseFire: Thank you for your review! I'm glad you're enjoying and I hope you will continue to read and enjoy!

Spark: Haha, thank you for your review! I'm glad you're enjoying this story so much. In answer to your question, there will be some onesided Jaylos vibes given the nature of their relationship (that is, the canonical fact that Carlos used to/maybe still does have a crush on Jay) but outside of that, no, there won't be any Jaylos pairing, not in this story, at least. Sorry if that's disappointing, but I do hope that won't stop you from reading and enjoying! :)

Tiredandlazy: Holy effing shit! Lazy, you have no fucking idea how good it is to hear from you again. (So good that when I got the notification that I had a review, and clicked and saw it was you, I legit had to bite my tongue to keep from screaming profanities in my place of work, as there were guests nearby who would not have appreciated me shouting things like "Holy Fuck you're alive!" and "Son of a bitch!" and "Holy fucking shit fuck!" etc.)

As soon as I was safely in my car and away from overhearing people, I then proceeded to scream all those things and more, all in celebration of course. ;)

That being said, you do not need to apologize or explain yourself to me 1) I have no right to judge being MIA, 2) I know exactly how lack of motivation due to sucky mental stuff feels (it *sucks*) and so if you need a hiatus, then take it, and know that I will always be here to scream joyful profanities when you return. ;)

ANYWAY anyways, 'mystery' papa is indeed in the light, and I'm really glad you love his perspective and how I'm interpreting both 'the Writer's Brain' and 'the Author's Curse.' I'm also excited for more of his POV, both for that reason, and to have an added outside perspective of the VKs and just how things are working around them. As for Carlos' memory issues, well…they'll be explained….

Audrey was definitely hard to write in that moment, because even I was kind of irritated with how 'easily' she seemed to flip on Ben and just skip off with Chad like, presumably, she and Ben would have had practically a life time together (it's kind of implied in the movie, or at least my understanding that it was kind of an 'arraigned marriage/longstanding relationship' type thing) and so I definitely wanted to figure out what was going on with her in that regard. My Audrey loves Ben, because of course she does, but she's a pretty strongwilled type of person, who has to use 'being shallow' as a defense mechanism/mask for all her ambitions and goals. (She's a total Slytherin, for sure) And so here she is with Ben, who isn't going to aid her ambitions, but will get her to her goal, which is a secured spot on a throne/in a position of power, to make up for the utter lack of power her kingdom currently is suffering from. (Maybe also stemming from how powerless she feels regarding her inability to keep her parents from divorcing? Oops, did I just psychoanalyze a bit?)

Also, it's *winces* ok…if you haven't…seen themovies.

Lol, no, it's actually fine, although I do recommend them because for all their lack of character development they're not all that bad. But yeah, I definitely was not going to accept that ditzy Dizzy…not by a long shot.

(Also, I have no idea what you are talking about, I would never kill a chi- *the outline for this story flies in out of nowhere and smacks me in the face. I pick it up and glare at the muse who threw it, who glares right back and flips me off. I grumble and look down at the outline...* oh, right. Heheh, nevermind, ahem.)

Lol, but seriously I love that you love Aziz so much! I choked when I got to that part of your review, mental clapping emoji and all! I did try and make it not too hard to guess who's phone Carlos has, but it's ok if you didn't get it right away. (Go back and read who the Contacts in the phone are, that might help some. If not, Ill PM you :))

I agree, they're definitely an interesting pair, and there's a couple really good fics out there I've read that explore the romantic relation-ship really well. The AKs won't be going to the Isle, necessarily (in the Wicked World shorts they have for Descendants there's a spell gone wrong that ends up transporting Ben, Mal, Evie and Audrey to the Isle, but it doesn't do any justice for what things are actually like over there) but they will be learning more about what it's like.
Not sure yet if I'll incorporate that short into this story or simply explore it differently, but I do intend for more people to realize as you say, what a hellscape it is.

As for Mal, the 'easiest' answer (heavy on the air quotes) is that internalized homophobia is a bitch. It's not so much that she 'had a girlfriend' in the traditional sense, because the Isle is far from traditional, but the core of Mal's struggle stems from constantly being told with words and with violence by the world/environment/people around her that any and all things 'gay' is wrong- wrong being such a mild word, here. (Ironic, for villains, but even they tend to adhere to the unspoken social code)
So she struggles even with Daisha to accept the relationship they have/had, especially given later events that will be revealed in flashback.
To have homophobia engrained so deeply into a person can be extremely hard to overcome, especially when it comes to coming to terms with/realizing your own sexuality. (Oops am I projecting?)
It's going to be a journey, and an incredibly painful one, especially given her past with Daisha and her feelings towards Evie in the present. But Aziz is definitely going to shine in that regard, as everyone starts taking those steps towards understanding and recovery. I'll PM you as well if you wanted to get a broader idea of what I'm going for, but that's the 'easy' answer, lol.

I'm glad you like my song lists, it makes me happy when I see people take an interest in what inspires this story, and actually listen along in some spots to further feel things. :)
I hope you'll continue to read and enjoy, even if you can't always review! (alsoiloveagoodwedding! ;))

blablabala: Welcome to fanfiction, we're all mad here! ;) Thank you so much for leaving a review, and for your kind words! I'm glad you're enjoying everything so far and I hope you'll continue to read and enjoy!

ThornyRose09: Welcome to the story and thank you so much for the review and your kinds words! I'm really glad you're enjoying everything so far and that you like what I'm doing with the characters and the plot. It means alot to hear that. :) I hope you will continue to read and enjoy!

Nix: Hey Nix! It's good to hear from you. Sometimes it's your little reminders of just how long it's been that give me the extra kick I need to finish and post what I'm working on. :)
In this case, however, it wasn't simply a matter of time, but of family. That being said, I still always appreciate your reviews and hearing what you think! The reason the VKs (or, Mal at least) were making such a point to dig into what they'd been through was to elicit a reaction from the Council and sort of force them to feel guilt or some responsibility for what had happened. Auradon was making it a point to blame the VKs for their behavior as 'villains', so Mal took it upon herself in that moment to educate them on what true 'villainy' looked like from the kids perspective.

I'm glad you like my music choices, lol, and I hope you'll continue to read and enjoy! :)

Guest 5: Well, I can't tell you that, unfortunately, as that would be a spoiler, lol, but I'm glad to see you enjoy Daisha's character so much, as well as her relationship with Mal. :) Ben is good for Mal in his own way, but I agree that, at least for this story, while he might be strong in his beliefs, he's not quite so strong in character/strong enough for Mal. But that's not to say he couldn't be in the future.

I hope you'll keep reading and enjoying!

AllGlitchedUp: Oh wow, it's good to hear from you again! It's been a while! (I know, I'm one to talk, I just meant...I'm glad you're still haunting the place. Dang it I said I'd stop with the spoopy jokes!) ;)

I've definitely not abandoned this story, and I'm glad you're still following along. I still check in and reread Detours from time to time. :) I hope you'll continue to read and enjoy my story, and that hopefully I can continue to look forward to yours as well!

Guest 6: Thank you for the review and the kind words! I'm really glad you're enjoying this story so much, and that you like my idea of a Jay/Lonnie pairing. I hope you'll continue to follow along and enjoy! :)

Author's Note 1: Alrighty, guys, I'm switching things up in that I'm giving you the **Super Important Author's Note** first.

That is because this chapter contains some potentially triggering things and I want to make sure you are all informed. Last chapter's title might have been a hint, but I'm going to make it clear; 'apres moi le deluge' means 'after me comes the flood,' and I meant that in a very literal sense. This chapter, and the subsequent chapters, will be digging further into backstories and flashbacks regarding the things the VKs have gone through on the Isle.

****In this chapter there is a slightly detailed instance of trigger/flashback; in which a character is triggered and recalls details of sexual abuse. There is nothing graphic, but it is still extremely intense and I wanted to make sure everyone was forewarned ahead of time!

If you fear this might trigger you, or simply don't want to read/experience the scene in question, feel free to skip the italicized section of Jay's POV in the beginning! I've also placed markers for you as well. I won't be offended if you skip, I want all my readers to be safe and enjoy this story! :) ****

With that in mind, the rest of the ***WARNINGS*** are as follows: Violence, Language; Implied/referenced child abuse and neglect; Mental health issues involving panic/anxiety attacks/dissociation; Referenced sexual abuse/assault; Implied/referenced suicidal thoughts and actions (nothing explicit/acted upon); Implied/referenced character death; Referenced abuse of a student by a teacher; Gang activity (mild/referenced); Implied/referenced/threats of death; Implied child abandonment; and Implications of Self-harm and non-graphic descriptions of injuries.

Author's Note 2:

(The fun one!)

The songs that inspired this chapter are: Icarus by Bastille (title), Rotten to the Core (title), Fall for You (accoustic) by SecondhandSerenade, Black Flies by Ben Howard, Supremacy by Muse, Stockholm Syndrome by Muse, I don't by Koda, Fossa by Daughter, A Million Ways to be Cruel by OKGo, Shiver by Coldplay, Where is my mind? cover by Mindy Jones, and Dark Mal by Hans Zimmer, from the Inception Soundtrack.

(I highly recommend listening to Dark Mal, I don't, and Supremacy specifically around/during Evie's POV)

Alright then, you've waited long enough! Enjoy the chapter and I look forward to hearing what you think!

- Raven

Look who's digging their own grave; makes their bed and lies down in it; look to the future and what do you have left?; Icarus is flying too close the sun; Icarus' life is just begun.

Jay

It's not so much that he doesn't want the wand- it's that he wants it so badly it terrifies him. He wants that power, the control it will give him, even if only for a second. He wants the freedom- wants the hands to go away- the voices and the whispers. He wants to just be Jay, not Jahaan. He wants to be more than just the son of Jafaar. He wants…he wants the world.

Sometimes he wondered if Jafaar had known that this would be his goal, and had named him with that in mind. Jahaan- the World. As if Jay would be the one to deliver it to his 'father' on a platter…no…in a lamp. The man had obviously given up on his expectations for his son too soon in life; he hadn't bother to teach Jay anything about his own world, never mind the one he was supposed to be inheriting. Taking over. He hadn't even recognized his name for what it was when his father spoke it, and so a tiny Jay had always introduced himself as 'Jayden.'

Jayden, he mused to himself as he climbed a twisting staircase, meant 'fire bird,' apparently. Carlos had been the one to tell him that; the other boy always obsessed with names and what they meant about a person's character. Or at least he had been in the beginning, before Cruella had gotten worse and tried to kill him with more passion, more intent. But he'd always liked the idea that his chosen name meant something so…magnificent. Jafaar would never have anything on him; never have justifiable reason to think he was so worthless. No, he wasn't destined to bring that man the world. He'd be the fire bird that burned him to the ground instead.

"There. That's the way to the wand."

That is, if he could get through Mal first.

He lifts his head to see where she's indicating, and notes the bright green eyes; the cold, feral smile. Unease roils in his stomach, and he sucks a soft breath and peers through the windows of the door before them. Inside is a round room full of displays; a podium at the very center holding an odd kind of wheel that registers as something he should know, but doesn't, and he dismisses it under the 'should have paid attention in class' portion of his mind. It's the screen behind the wheel he's interested in, a multicolored display of shiny, valuable things. His fingers twitch eagerly, and he glances sideways to the rest of the group.

Evie and Carlos remain stiff and quiet, Carlos' fingers twisting the dog tail on his belt into a ragged mess. Evie's arms are crossed, her shoulders hunched ever so slightly. It's not noticeable, to anyone who doesn't notice, but Jay notices and so he's able to pick up on the terror and unease tightening her body. He peers back into the room of displays and locks onto the unnaturally red apple projected on the screen; notes the distinct jagged curve of a bite mark.

Oh. Another look reveals what he knew at sight to be the cause of Carlos' anxiety; a fur cloak, thick and rugged, distinctly spotted and stained with red on the inner lining.

Mal it seemed, was the only one unaffected by the sight of the thin, dark rod of lethal wood; directly contrasting his father's own, twisted, serpentine metal. In fact it seemed she only truly had eyes for the wheel in the center, her grin widening even further as she jerks her head towards it pointedly. His eyes follow hers to a plaque to the object's left, and he can't help the laugh that slips past his lips because-

"That's your mother's spinning wheel?"

Carlos lifts his head curiously at that, then meets Jay's eyes with a giggle of his own.

[It's so small.] He signs, indicating the wheel before bringing his hands together like he was cupping something tiny inside them.

"It's magic," Mal snarls, though her cheeks are flushed slightly. "It doesn't have to be big."

"Heh, that's Jay's line," Evie murmurs, smirking over at him wickedly, and he wants to launch back an equally scathing retort of his own except movement flickers in the corner of his eye.

"Guard!" He hisses instead, and they flinch back away from the door instinctively, Mal's hand flying to the letter opener at her waist. They crouch, tense and anxious, hardly daring to breathe as the sound of footsteps echo from the room beyond. Jay tilts his head and listens, counting, then nods once he picks up the pattern.

"Left," he breathes, and Mal nods once, eyes dark and solemn.

He takes the lead, and they inch their way around to the left as the guard's steps continue to tromp their pattern further into the room they'd been intending to inhabit. As they crawl, Jay's eyes flicker constantly, taking in the signs and banners hanging on the walls. He imagines that it would be interesting to actually take a tour of this place; with exhibits like 'Weapons through the Ages' and 'The Great Lineages' and even 'Arms and Armor,' it promised a good time. At least, if they weren't trying to be stealthy. And in the midst of a plot to take over the kingdom and kill everyone in Auradon. Something about that thought pinches hard enough that he feels more than vaguely uncomfortable, but before he can fully process it, the click of the guard's footsteps stops and he has a job to do.

"Clear," he murmurs, and they stand, soft exhales of relief filling the air around him. They're in front of a different door now, but when Jay looks in he can see the guard lounging in a chair, his back to them and eyes on the screens.

Mal grins and pulls her spell book from her pocket. It takes less than a second for her to flip to a page, and her eyes light with more than just magic, her fingers ghosting over the words as she speaks them.

"'Prick the finger, prick it deep; send my Enemy off to sleep.'"

She say the words slowly, and so Jay is able to take in every lilt and drawl of her voice, the way it seems to both curl around him and stab right through him; the way he feels cold in the pit of his stomach even as warmth seems to wrap around his body. He feels a dull jerking sensation in his shoulder, and his hand lifts weakly, but it drops back to his side before he can get it to the door. It must drop harder than he'd thought, because there's a dull thud, and then he blinks and realizes that it's the guard that had fallen; keeled over at the base of the podium.

Then he realizes that he'd nearly followed the man's example…and he doesn't want to think on what that might mean but finds himself doing it even as he stoops and starts picking the lock. It rattles instead of clicks, however, and Mal swats him none too gently on the back of the head.

"Idiot," she hisses, and he flinches then instantly hates himself for it. Hates her for it. "Your hands are shaking. Carlos. Open the damn door."

Carlos' whole body is shaking, but his hands are steady enough to accomplish what Jay had not, and the door clicks easily and swings open when the boy gives it a tentative nudge. In lieu of any sort of acknowledgement, Mal lunges and is through in moments, snarling: "Let's go!" as she vanishes on the other side.

A hand on his shoulder keeps Jay from following- or maybe he'd just been hesitating anyway. He turns into Evie's grim expression; Carlos' frantic concern.

[Did you feel that?] Carlos signs; brows raised as he points to Jay; then makes a flat palm shape, fingers spread and middle finger pointing towards his chest; he brushes his finger upwards a couple times before ending with a gesture towards the wheel.

Jay frowns and crosses his arms, but Evie sets her jaw and he feels another sick lurch in his stomach in realization.

"You…you felt…"

"Like suddenly I wasn't worth the air keeping me alive and that there was a very convenient spinning wheel right over there to help with that?"

"Shit, E," Jay hisses, but it's nothing like Mal's venom. Just shock and horror, the sick feeling in his stomach increasing even as Evie works her jaw silently and Carlos refuses to make eye contact as he tilts his head in some kind of agreement.

"Sorry," she says, but it's a tight snap more than a genuine apology. "Did I suddenly make you feel uncomfortable? You're saying you don't think-"

"Mal's gone too far," he finishes, lifting a brow but not his lips, which curl further downwards into a snarl. "Yeah, I'm not saying that; I'm saying where does she get the fucked up idea that we're her enemies?"

Evie's mouth twitches into something horrific and pained and only just resembling a smile.

"I don't know," she murmurs softly. "Why don't we go find out?"

When they catch up to Mal, she's muttering and wringing her fingers in front of a rather ominous looking archway. There's no light from beyond to indicate what they might be walking into, though Jay suspects, given the way the walls curve to give way to a wall of darkness, that it's a tunnel of some sort.

"Fucking finally," Mal snarls when they reach her, and her eyes snap the same sparks her fingers do. "Let's go."

"Mal," Jay barks right back, straightening his shoulders and stepping forward.

"We're close," she hisses, eyes on the tunnel. "I can feel it."

"Mal. Stop."

She jerks at the tone in Evie's voice, and when she turns it's all Jay can do to stand his ground. She's every bit the dragon in that moment, eyes bright and promising violence; violence that he knows somehow, that she won't hesitate to deliver.

"I thought I made it clear that we weren't stopping until we found that wand," she says, and her voice is soft and made all the more dangerous for it. "So why are we stopping?"

"We're stopping because you're being more than just a bitch about this whole thing," Jay says, and behind him, Carlos makes an uneasy sound in his throat and even Evie cringes beside him as Mal's glare intensifies. "Because that old bat was right and you're acting just like Maleficent."

Mal's lips part and twist, a sharp noise like a laugh splitting the air between them. "I'm acting like…no. No, the exact opposite, really."

"Really?" Jay growls, letting his own features twist to match her own. "Then what do you call intimidating and forcing us to do what you want against our will, and then threatening us with magic when we don't comply?"

"I never-" Mal snarls, and Evie makes a choked noise and shifts forward, but Jay catches her because if anyone's going to take the brunt of this it's going to be him.

"Just now…your spinning wheel. 'Send my enemy off to sleep,'" he says. "And suddenly I've got my hand halfway to the door thinking how nice it would be to sleep forever."

Mal goes so pale so fast he thinks it's a wonder she doesn't keel over. Then she does stagger, but he's not quite at the sympathy level yet, so she ends up catching herself against the brick behind her.

"Fucking hell," she whispers hoarsely, eyes wide enough that he imagines he can see right through them; see the horror as it spreads its way across her face. "That's not…that shouldn't have happened to…son of a mother."

"Apparently not having the same goal as you counts for being an enemy," Jay spits, and Mal jerks like she'd been struck, head lifting sharply.

"That's exactly what she would do," she mutters. "That's exactly who she'd consider her enemy. And of course the magic wouldn't take my words the same way because it's…it's her spell."

"Sure," Evie murmurs right back, her voice cold. "Blame the magic for making us want to kill ourselves by spinning wheel."

"E…."

"Don't." Evie's voice is so sharp even Jay flinches back from it. "Just. Don't."

"You don't…you don't get it," Mal whispers, and there's an odd flicker in her eyes even as her jaw tightens. "I'm trying to avoid that. I swear I really fucking am."

"Some job of it," Jay hisses bitterly, his own body stiffening in further resentment. "But I guess it's what we should expect. I mean, you only recruited us for your gang in the first place based on what power we could get you. Isle…Auradon…location doesn't matter."

That flicker behind her eyes spikes sharply, and Jay recognizes it for what it is and blinks, stunned.

No, Mal says, or rather, her lips say, but the sound doesn't come out. Then she freezes, in a more literal sense as her shoulders tighten and jaw sets; any further flickering settled into a hard mask.

"You're right," she snaps, resolutely turning her back on them. "It doesn't matter. We're almost to the wand and none of this will matter then."

None of it, Jay agrees, exchanging pained and borderline mutinous looks with Carlos and Evie. That was good to know. It would make him feel better about…whatever it was he was about to do.

The tunnel, as it turned out, led out into a larger sort of hall, and the banners that hang here are only just dimly lit for display. The colors are darker as well; blacks and reds and greens and blues that bring to mind the depths of the ocean or the pits of flame more than the sky blue of Auradon. It makes him feel…like he was back on the Isle. More than that…like…like….

He doesn't know why he keeps following Mal when every part of him wanted to run; wanted to curl up small where he couldn't be found…where he wouldn't find him.

But follow he does, and follows Carlos after him, and Evie after Carlos, and so Jay is the first (second to Mal) to see the title hovering above them.

Hall of Villains

"Mal!" he hisses, as a flash of red, no…crimson suddenly lights in the corner of his eyes. She turns, and her own eyes do that flicker again, her expression falling in realization.

"Oh."

"Oh?!" Jay snaps, fighting the tug of morbid curiosity; the urge to turn his head and see….the hands that start to snake their way along his body. "You waltz us through the Hall of our parents and all you can say is 'oh?'"

"Jayden," Mal snaps back, but her eyes aren't on him; they're looking past him, and Jay groans because he'd known they weren't going to get out of this unscathed. He'd just really been hoping for it.

Carlos was pale and rocking anxiously on the balls of his feet, cowering at the feet of Cruella de Vil. The woman stood tall in a pose of something resembling superiority, if it weren't for the vacant look on her face and the way her hands seemed to be reaching for something she couldn't actually see. Given the fact that Jay had seen that exact expression on the woman's face before, he gave Auradon a thumbs up for realism, even as he cursed at Carlos' reaction to the statue.

The small boy crouched with his back to her, his fingers fidgeting…no…signing…Jay can't quite make it out, but it repeats- the same thing over and over, and just as he's realizing that it's not a sign but a name, Evie lets out a soft whimper on his left. He jerks and spins to her, his own breath catching in his throat at the sight of Grimhilde towering over her daughter; her regal face cold and twisted in disgust.

Evie is standing, but only just- having been on the verge of collapse himself he recognizes the tremble in her body, the tightness of her breath and the way it rattles ever so slightly.

"I'm sorry," she whispers, her hands shaking as they clutch at her arms, head down and shoulders bent. "I'm sorry."

He flinches hard because he knows that posture; every minute detail of that pose etched into his nightmares. It was submissive Evie; the Evie that could never be the Evelynn her mother wanted her to be; it was Evie at her very lowest; the Evie he would find sobbing and broken, bleeding in back alleyways.

"Why?"

That was Mal.

Jay nearly trips as he wheels to her; his stomach threatening to revolt at that point; the hands crawling just a little higher up the back of his neck. Mal stands before the figure of her mother at least, but it's hardly a firm pose. Her eyes are literal fire; a parallel to the same green flames that writhe and burn their way up and down her arms. Together they make a direct contrast to the tears staining her cheeks; the anguish twisting her expression and making her somehow smaller than the woman who birthed her.

"What did she….What did I do?"

"Mal," Jay croaks, but her gaze is solely for Maleficent; the flames rising to her shoulders now even as she lets out a broken sob.

"How could you?" she whispers. "Why couldn't I just have her? Why did it have to be you?"

"Mal!" Jay tries again, desperate now, but she's gone…he's gone…lost…dragged under…under the weight of…of him.

warning here

When he opens his eyes, it's not his father before him, but a room. It's the kind of room that brings to mind warehouses and back alleyways and other sketchy and dark things, though he's not sure exactly why. For all intents and appearances it was a simple room…bedroom.

Bedroom?

"Fuck, they keep getting younger and younger."

He whirls so hard he feels the twinge in his neck, but he doesn't care. That voice…he knows…that woman.

"Well I think that is the point, isn't it?"

He flinches. He knows her, too…pain. She was pain. And the other…

"Doesn't mean I have to like it."

He can't breathe. Something's touching his neck something's around his throat around his waist and he can't he doesn't he doesn't he doesn't.

"He's squirming too much (Fizo)."

Be good now behave be good or this will

"(Odyni)."

No don't please sorry he's sorry he won't pleasedontpleasedontpleasedont

Screaming. Someone was screaming.

Jay.

Who?

Jay.

No. Boy.

Jay!

Good boy.

Open your eyes Jay. Where are you Jay?

Bad boy.

Where are you Jay?

Such a bad boy what a good…fuck.

Open your eyes damn it! Tell me what's real.

Real? What's…solid. Real is what's solid…hard. No! No he doesn't…he doesn't want he can't he doesn't he doesn't he doesn't want….

"Jay, you have to stop…you have to breathe, Jay!"

He couldn't breathe he couldn't breathe that was the point, Evie!

*safe*

Evie?

"Evie."

"Yes."

She sounds…crying?

Had she been crying?

"Yes, just keep breathing, Jay."

"Am I…I'm…dead…Or something?"

"N-o."

She makes it a two syllable word, and he doesn't believe her. He feels like he'd died. Or close to it, anyway. Every part of him feels…raw…stretched too…he feels…twisted.

"Fucking finally!"

Mal?

"Open your eyes, asshole, we have to move."

"Mal. Shut up."

"Excuse me?"

"I know you heard me so I'm not saying it again. Just give him a second."

"A second? We don't have a fucking second because his little breakdown means we're going to get caught, and I for one, would like to not have that happen."

"Of course that's all you care about here so why am I surprised?"

Both of you shut up, he wants to scream.

I'm fine, he also felt like adding.

But everything was disjointed and off, and he thinks that if he actually tried moving he'd fall to pieces, and his body wasn't his to move, and his skin wasn't his peel off, but he really really didn't want to be inhabiting either of those things at the moment.

"Where are we?"

"Auradon. We're in Auradon, Jay, I promise."

"Ok," he says slowly, and the relief is like a physical wave, his body tingling with the force of it. "I just…had to be sure."

"Great. Got that out of the way. Now open your eyes so we can get the hell out of here."

"I…I can't do that."

"Fucking shit I can't do this right now."

"Then don't," Evie says, though her voice is low and hoarse, and he doesn't like the sound of it at all.

"Jay, you need to calm down and open your eyes," Mal says again, and she must be shaking, he thinks, because her voice isn't set in its rhythm; wobbling all over the place.

"I am calm," he manages, his throat too dry and tongue too thick to form the words with ease. "I'm…I'm ok…I think."

"Yeah? Well you need to know, dumbass. Open your eyes and then I might believe you."

"Mal."

"Where are we?" Jay asks instead, because she was right, he did need to know. There's a strange humming in the air; like static in a storm, working its way into his mind and making him feel even more on edge. He gropes around and shivers at the cold his fingers brush against. "Am I on the floor?"

"We're all on the floor," Mal drawls, her voice the tight and cheery note of sarcasm. "Since you decided to start screaming, there's a fuck ton of guards looking for us now. So yeah. The floor is cold, but I'd be more than happy to warm it back up for you."

"What's that noise?" He mumbles, turning his head towards it, his cheek against the cool tile.

"Noise?" Mal snaps, and he can tell she's impatient, but also…afraid? He doesn't know why she would be, but there's a high note in her voice that she always got when she was. "There's no noise, Jay."

"Like…humming," he says, squinting with his cheeks but not quite sure if it was real enough yet to open his eyes. If he was truly real. "Music," he decides, lips pressing tightly together between syllables. "It's like music."

"There's nothing, Jay." He hears the anxious snap of Mal's fingers, feels the tickle of sparks against his skin that echoes the sharp, tickling breath she takes.

He flinches on instinct even as his mind registers that the spark had been warm and not burning…not searing…not…marking…..

warning

His breath catches in his throat and he grits his jaw as hands grab tightly to the back of his neck; fingers slipping across his cheeks; his jaw; his lips….

He wants to scream again but he knows if he does…knows if he does…knows if he does….

"You're scaring him, Fizo," he croons lowly, his hands patting the side of Jay's face. "This is supposed to be the fun part. Come on now…good boy…open…."

**safe**

"…your eyes, Jay! Look at me…dammit. Jay, please!"

He's on the floor, he tries to remind himself, even as bile burns the back of his throat and he pitches forward to heave desperately against the cold surface. He's in Auradon and he's on the floor and he's safe he's with he's with he's with….

"At me, Jay. Open your eyes and look at me."

He recognizes that pitch in Mal's voice as panic, but he also registers that there'd been a command in there somewhere too, and Mal got even more pissy if he ignored those and he's not entirely sure why he cares but he can tell that she does and so he shudders and heaves and if he does this he's dead if he does this he'll be seen and if he does this-

"Hey, there you are." Evie's face is the panic he'd heard in Mal's voice; her eyes only just relaxing when he finally manages to meet them. "There you are Jay."

"About time you decided to join us," Mal snaps, but her own eyes read concerned even as her lips curl dismissively. "You think you can sit up too or am I gonna have to drag you out of here?"

No, he thinks, desperately. No because that would mean she'd have to—

"Don't fucking touch me!"

He's not sure how or when, but his hands are up, and he's shrunken himself on the floor, and Mal is looking at him like…like…he's not sure. But his whole body tingles and his skin feels itchy and raw, and there's a pressing sort of warning screaming in the back of his head that he knows without question he can't pay attention to.

"Alright, calm down, idiot," Mal says, and her voice is low but it still shakes, and Jay doesn't know how they ever thought…. "I'm fine to just sit and watch you fail at functioning too if that's what you want. But again, the guards are also kind of an issue so unless you get the fuck up right now…."

"I am up," he growls, and then blinks because he was up, and he didn't think he was supposed to have done that.

There's a shimmering something in front of him and he decides to focus on that instead of…everything else…watching the ripples and currents and counting them out as he tries to catch his breath. Had he been running? No…if they'd been running they would have found a better place to hide than here: out in this open circle, with nothing but the wall and open floor beneath. He thinks he knows what he's done, but to admit that he'd done something would mean claiming that he'd had control of his body, and that wouldn't have been possible because….

"Oh well thank fuck," Mal sighs, and it's an actual sigh, complete with a heavy shudder that makes him wonder at both her sincerity and his own position. "We have to move."

"Yes, you've made that clear," Evie snaps, and while Mal's jaw clenches and her eyes go dark, Jay flinches because Evie never spoke to anyone like that, let alone Mal.

"What…?" Jay begins, then stops because he realizes with a jolt just what he'd been looking at, and he doesn't know how he hadn't registered it before.

The wand hovers in the air a few feet in front of him, separated only by a sheen of twitching light and warmth. He blinks and tilts his head, and the hum he'd heard before resumes, just slightly dulled. Another moment, and he realizes it's coming from the shimmering itself, and he wonders if he'd be breaking the rules by touching it. He wouldn't technically be moving from his spot, Jay reasons, even as his stomach twists at the thought of the pain he'd receive if he was caught. He'd just be moving his hand….

"Jay, what are you doing?"

He jumps, lurching backwards and just barely keeping his feet, body lighting with agony. "I didn't move!" he cries, lifting his hands in a vain attempt to stave off the blows. "I didn't!"

Then he blinks, and Mal is staring at him like she wants to hurt something, and Evie is staring at him and Carlos and they were all staring and why were they staring what did he do?

"I didn't," he mumbles weakly. Then he grimaces as his stomach twists because he wasn't weak they had no right to look at him like he was he wasn't pathetic he wasn't weak he wasn't broken. No matter how much it felt like he was.

"It's ok if you move, Jay," Mal finally says, and he doesn't know why but he doesn't quite trust her. "We're all going to have to move…to leave the museum."

Museum? But his father…he'd seen Jafar, hadn't he? He knew he had because his back was burning and he could never avoid a beating whenever he was in his father's presence. But then why did it feel wrong? Why did he feel wrong?

He knows he's missed something, but he can't comment on it because Mal was giving a cue; and he's pushing himself forward onto the balls of his feet; and Carlos is leaning into his side as he moves to copy Jay's pose; and Evie is muttering curses and other mutinous things under her breath; and in front of him Mal's shoulders stiffen further and further and he thinks he's going to explode again.

"Check the upper levels!"

The shout comes from the…room? Had they been in a room? They must have, Jay reasons, because they're in a hallway now and the voices are behind them, so he keeps a hand on Carlos' shoulder, and focuses on the tight rocking motion of Mal's shoulders as she creeps along in front of him.

"Nothing here!"

"False alarm then?"

"Some kids from the school thinking they're clever, more like."

"Gods I hate royal brats sometimes. Always think they can get away with crap cuz they're soo important."

"I'll call it in then. Damn…"

Jay can't quite multitask between tracking the voices and tracking the movement of his own body, and he still isn't quite sure it's his. Tracking the voices is easier, and at least vaguely entertaining, and so he does that instead until there's nothing to track, and then he realizes it's because the voices had stopped, and that they were back on the first floor of the museum, a few halls down from the window where they'd come in.

"Jay, go," Mal snaps, and he jumps at the sound of her voice but hurries to move ahead, hands jerky as he grabs at the fallen window.

Carlos is through before he's gotten his fingers around it, and Evie isn't far behind. Mal pauses just long enough to give him a look, and then he's jumping through after her, securing the window methodically behind them.

"Well," Mal huffs as they make their trek back through the streets. "Way to go, Jay. Now we have to go back to school tomorrow."

The real trouble starts when they get back to the dorms. No sooner does the door close than Carlos throws himself towards his bed, retrieving his phone from the cushions and diving under it with barely a whine. Jay feels strangely heavy, and thinks that maybe collapsing on top of the bed wouldn't be such a bad idea except Mal makes a noise behind him, and the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

"Don't you dare!" she cries, and it's another odd noise that follows her words, this time from Evie. "You stay right there, E."

Jay isn't quite sure at first what he's seeing, only that Mal is pointing and her eyes are fire etched against tear stained cheeks, and Evie whimpers where she stands frozen before her, body only just beginning to make a turn.

"Mal," Evie whispers, and her voice is hoarse and terrified, and her body trembles but doesn't move, and Jay's stomach clenches when he realizes it's because she can't.

"Mal," he echoes lowly, wobbling closer and trying to ignore every instinct that told him to run; that told him to hide; that told him to fight. "Let…let her go."

Mal shakes her head, the tears doing nothing to dull the fire still burning in her eyes. "I can't," she chokes out, head still shaking. "I'm sorry…hate me all you want but I can't. I'm not losing you…to this…any of you."

Her head tilts as if pleading for understanding, but Evie's own chin lifts, her expression hardening even as she trembles.

"A little late for that, I think," she says, and Mal's lips twitch oddly, the fire suddenly dim.

"No," Mal murmurs, arm lowering to her side where her fingers snap once, sharply. "Not quite."

"Lose us?" Jay repeats as he stumbles forward to catch Evie when she staggers. It pulls at some vague reference in his mind, and when he places it he blinks and looks up at Mal. "Like…like you lost 'her?'"

"What?" Evie snaps, skeptic and pained, but Mal's lips curl back in a tight grimace, the sharpness in her eyes doing nothing to hide the sudden haunted look behind them.

"What?" she repeats, and Jay steadies Evie (steadies himself) and nods his head as he remembers.

"You…the museum," he manages, fingers still holding Evie tightly. The dangers of her falling have passed, but he feels like he might if he doesn't have something to ground him. And, despite himself, he recognized Mal's desperate intention and feared what Evie might do if he did, in fact, let go. "Maleficent," he continues. "…you said…something. You said… 'her.'"

He shivers, his mind struggling to piece it all together. There had been something said, he knows, but there's a desperate, frantic part of him still fighting to pull away, and he knows that if he kept digging into it, it would be the death of him, somehow.

"I said a lot of things," Mal growls, and her voice is hard but her eyes are still hollow. "Most importantly that none of that mattered, so don't worry about it."

"Don't worry about it?" Evie hisses, and Jay winces and peels himself away from her because he needed her to be steady and if she went down so would he. "Is that your new life motto now, 'don't care and don't worry'? Because we don't matter unless we're useful?"

"Gods and Hades," Mal snarls, hands flinging out at her sides and sending a cascade of heat, sparks and flames to the floor. "Of course you fucking matter! That's all I've been trying to do...trying to say…even though fuck knows I suck at saying."

"You suck at doing, too," Evie mutters, still so cold in contrast to Mal's heat.

"I know, believe me I fucking know," Mal snaps back, pacing a short line and showering more sparks. "If I was any good at doing we'd have the wand and there'd be no need to worry. But we don't have the wand and now there's all the more need to worry because my mother is expecting nothing less than our success and none of us has any kind of handle on our shit and I can't keep doing this."

Beneath the bed, Carlos stutters over a broken sob, and Mal echoes it a bit more harshly, hands flying up to tangle sparks and flames into her hair.

"Son of a bitch I can't," she chokes out, and Jay thinks he agrees with her sentiment. "I can't, ok? I can't lose you because of this."

"Don't worry," Evie says thickly. Darkly. "You didn't."

By the time Jay realizes that the door slamming shut meant that Mal had gone, it was too late to do anything to stop her. And then he realizes that he hadn't, in fact, wanted to stop her, but it was too late for that, too. And he thinks that maybe he wasn't supposed to bring anyone the world, and that maybe he was meant to be the one to burn his own world down instead.

Jane

The last thing Jane had been expecting at…2 am…was the sight of Mal screaming herself hoarse in the girl's dorm bathrooms. And yet here she was; and there Mal was, and never had Jane regretted anything more in her life. The look on the older girl's face was more than just anger; it was anguish and loathing and regret all rolled in to one, gut-wrenching scream that continued to ring in the bathroom walls even after it finally tapered off into equally gut-wrenching, breathless sobs.

It was…strange. To see Mal, the feared and ever infamous daughter of Maleficent, cry. Jane supposed that, logically, it wasn't odd because the girl was (more or less) human, or at least, a living being with feelings and a soul. It was just that it had never really occurred to her so strongly before, and then she remembers how she met Carlos and how he'd exceeded her expectations for a VK…and she was just about to wonder if she'd been thinking this harmfully towards the other VKs too when she notices that Mal is staring at her, and she rapidly takes several steps back towards the door.

"Um," Jane squeaks, trembling as she tries to interpret that look in the girl's eyes and hoping it didn't mean anything evil.

"Jane," Mal says slowly, wiping her face with the sleeve of her sweater. She says it like she's making sure she has it right, and Jane manages a tiny, terrified laugh.

"Yeah," she whispers, not daring to move closer despite no obvious signs of imminent danger. "That's me."

Mal glances her up and down once, then instantly looks away, and while a part of Jane knows and hates that dismissiveness, the other part of her narrows in on the way Mal tugs at the ends of her sweater's sleeves; the way her whole body was curled into a corner beneath the vanity sink, as if she'd just taken a beating, or was expecting one. The way she wouldn't look at Jane, and while she was no stranger to being ignored, she was also no stranger to that particular quirk; that fear that if you looked at someone while in the midst of breaking down, it would just make it worse.

And so instead of fleeing for her life as she should have wisely done, Jane takes a careful step forward and asks:

"Are you ok?"

Mal looks at her then, and Jane flushes, wringing her hands and anxiously tugging at the bow in her hair.

"I mean, you're obviously not since you're…you know…but um, I just thought. I just thought…I'd check and make sure. And not like to be…cruel or anything, I'm not like…um…um…."

"Not like me?" Mal finishes, and the harsh sound of her voice makes Jane cringe.

"No?" she whimpers, and Mal exhales sharply in what might have been amusement if this were in fact, a situation worth being amused by. "I'll just…I'll just go then."

And she's turning to make her retreat when she feels a tug in her gut, which is directly preceded by Mal's desperate cry of:

"Don't go!"

There's a brief flutter that she recognizes as her own magic, but there's also a much more powerful magic that pulls at her; demands her attention; demands her to stay. She turns slowly, and the tug gets stronger, a wild, dangerous, thrilling sort of force that draws her back towards Mal.

Then Jane blinks, and Mal blinks, her hand falling limply back to curl around her body once more, eyes pained and yet somehow, distant.

"That's new," Mal murmurs, and while Jane was inclined to agree (she'd never felt magically compelled by someone before) there was also a sense of familiarity in the other girl's magic that should have felt foreign and evil.

"Um," is all Jane can think to respond, and the pain in Mal's eyes grows, a twitch of regret pulling at her lips.

"Sorry," she rasps lowly. "Didn't mean to do that. I'm always doing things I don't mean."

"It's…"

"Don't bullshit me like that," Mal snaps weakly before she can even finish. "Or yourself. It's not ok."

"Ok," Jane mutters, then she winces as she realizes what she said, realizes that Mal is looking at her again, and there's definitely a bit of disdain there now.

"What are you even doing here?" the girls asks, shifting her legs tighter into her body so Jane can see the too-thick-too-big-too-black boots she's wearing. "Isn't a bit late for princesses to be out and about?"

"First off, I'm not a princess," Jane snaps back, then realizes that she'd snapped and nervously starts unraveling the bow in her hands. "And second, I could ask you the same thing."

"I'm having an existential crisis, what does it look like?"

"Like you're not ok and need someone to talk to," Jane responds immediately, even as the velvet ribbon gives between her fingers.

"Ha," Mal chuckles half-heartedly, head tilting to the side to rest against the tiled wall and effectively cutting off the part of her face Jane had been able to see. "Are you volunteering?"

"I…I don't know," Jane mumbles, slowly retying her bow. "I just thought…you could use a friend?"

"I have friends." There's a finality in those three words, but also a waver in them, too, as if that finality wasn't quite so absolute.

"Then why are you screaming in an Auradon bathroom at two in the morning?"

Mal snorts and ducks her head just enough that Jane can see the smirk tightening her jaw. "And I guess you just have all the friends you could ever want and that's why you feel the need to point at me?"

"Not really, no," Jane says quietly, folding her hands to keep them from any more destruction.

"What, seriously?" Mal shuffles along the tile, and suddenly Jane can see all of her; her faded green sweater hanging off her shoulder and exposing quite a bit of skin, and Jane only notices because it also exposes the edge of a paler, slightly raised bit of what can only be a scar. "I mean, with your mom being Fairy Godmother? Not to mention of course your own…personality."

Jane looks up at the dip in Mal's voice over the word, then drops her eyes again at the almost scathing look the other girl gave as she pointedly tugs at the collar of her sweater.

"Sorry," Jane manages shakily, attempting an equally apologetic smile. "I didn't mean to stare."

"No, go ahead, stare all you want," Mal growls, edging her way fully out from under the sink and pushing herself upright. "That's all you Auradonians see us as anyway, just a bunch of scars for you to cover right over."

"I don't," Jane retorts immediately, though she knows it would be more effective if she actually met the other girl's eyes. "And not all of us do. And anyway, I'm still here and trying to care at least, even if I'm not good at it."

"Yeah, you're really not, are you?" Mal mutters, but there's a contemplative look on her face now, her fingers idly tugging her sweater back up onto her shoulder, the excess fabric now sagging around her throat. "I guess that's why they're all banging down your door."

"It's why I'm no princess," Jane finds herself blurting, a vague sort of resentment pooling in her gut before fading into disappointment. "They're all just…shallow. And pretty. I- want to be pretty."

"What like your mom with her wand? All Cinderella and bippidy-boppidy-boo and junk?" Mal replies, and though it's said with something mocking and dismissive, the contemplative look on the other girl's face grows.

"She doesn't even use the wand anymore," Jane complains, and she's aware that she's whining, and aware that the foreign-familiar magic tugging at her spikes sharply as she speaks, but it's the first time she's been truly able to vent about this and she's not going to stop now. "She says that 'real' magic is in books, and not even magic books. Like, regular books with history and stuff. She says that she put her wand away to 'adapt with the times' or whatever, but she did it because she was afraid."

"Oh."

There's a catch in Mal's voice, a crack in the thoughtful mask she'd been wearing. It's something strangely genuine, and though it lasts only a second, it's enough to have Jane inching closer, her voice lowering with secrecy and mutual curiosity.

"She was afraid, because King Beast was afraid, and he tried to…cover over all the magical things that could possibly be used against him."

"Paranoid bastard," Mal mumbles, and Jane grimaces at the language but actually sort of agreed.

"Magic had destroyed so much of his life that it didn't occur to him that it wasn't the force itself, but the wielder that manipulated that force against him. So now she hides her true nature in a more 'manageable' form, and teaches things like 'working on the inside and not the outside' and…."

"And no more bippidy-boppidy-boo," Mal finishes, eyes narrow and a scowl darkening her features.

"Unless it's for like, the good of the King or something…lifesaving, I guess. But yeah." Jane nods morosely. "None of that."

"Wait, you said 'manageable form'," Mal murmurs, and Jane lifts her brows cautiously. "Does that mean…." She trails off and there's a barely concealed echo of something hollow and pained that crosses her face.

"That my mom has wings?" Jane finishes knowingly, a bittersweet smile of her own playing at her lips. "Well she wouldn't exactly be a 'faery godmother' without them, would she?"

Mal stiffens sharply, and Jane pales as the girl takes several rapid steps closer, green eyes bright with emotion.

"You just said faery godmother," she hisses, and Jane sucks a breath and curses her loose tongue.

"It was a slip," she tries to explain, but Mal's eyes light with flame and Jane knows, somehow, that she should not continue the lie.

"Do you want to try that again?" Mal asks, and though it's not entirely a threat, Jane shivers all the same.

"I don't know for sure if…if we actually count as fae," she admits carefully. "Mom's kind of…removed from the line? Um…she's got fae blood for sure- on her mother's side…somewhere…but…fell out? I guess?"

Mal's eyes narrow even further, and Jane silently hopes she won't connect the dots. But of course, she could never be that lucky.

"Your mother's from the Moors, isn't she?"

"In a roundabout way," Jane mumbles, unable to help the whirl of emotions that place brings up in her, nonetheleast of which being resentment.

"Let me guess," Mal sneers, lips curling in matching resentment. "Her mother was one of the ones who let Stefan into the Moors, despite the fact that he was human and had no right…."

"I'm human," Jane counters softly, feeling her magic snap hotly inside her. "Or at least, partly."

Mal's magic flares, then calms, though some of the tightness around her expression remains.

"Sorry," she says thinly, lips tight. "That's gotta suck."

"I…why would it…"

In place of an answer, Mal steps forward again, fingers sparking gently and eyes intense. Jane fights to stand her ground this time, and sees the other girl's eyes flicker with something almost like pride?- then they go solemn again as they rove over her face; taking in every detail.

"I don't know if the same can be said for Fairy Godmother," Mal mutters finally, stepping back again. "But you do still have some fae in you. It's hard to see past all the human though, unless you know what to look for."

"Still not sure I like how you say human like it's some kind of…."

"Curse?" Mal smirks at some hidden amusement, and Jane feels her magic snap tighter, feels it itch.

"You'd know more than me," she mutters, and Mal's mouth opens in a wide, entirely thrilled grin.

"Good one," she crows, almost laughing. Jane doesn't quite know how she should feel about her remark (guilt, mostly), but Mal sobers before she can truly think of a way to apologize, something dark coming back into her eyes.

"What did you mean?" Jane asks, if only to distract from whatever was playing in Mal's thoughts. "'If you know what to look for?' I mean…I am human."

It's an instinctive insistence, one that had only really served to emphasize how out of place Jane always felt. The daughter of the Fairy Godmother; of course people would always look at her funny- look for the human in her. It had been a small relief, at first, how plain she appeared. She remembered overheard conversations from when she'd been small; whispers of fear that she might take too much after her fae heritage. But she was just…average. Nothing to betray her magical heritage, aside from the few stray tingles of unreachable magic; the torn promise of wings. Jane had learned to hide in her plainness; to take comfort in it, especially when the Isle had gone up; and the barriers- the fears of the King and his restriction on magic in Auradon.

But now, standing before Mal- who didn't hide; who didn't feel ashamed about her heritage; who was far from plain- Jane found herself truly wishing for the first time in a long time.

"Not with Moor blood in you, you're not," Mal murmurs, breaking Jane out of her reverie. "And anyway, it's not as if…woops, sorry. Never mind."

"What?" Jane asks, the itch tugging just a bit more. "Not as if what?"

Mal actually looks reluctant, but finally she shifts her weight and continues in a carefully neutral tone. "Not as if your father didn't have something to with it."

"My…" Jane barely contains her flinch of…surprise, she firmly decides it's going to be. "My father's…."

Human, she wants to say. Not part of this, another, injured part of her hisses. Was never…part of this.

"Oh, now you're making that face," Mal says with an almost-whine, her eyes flickering slightly. "Look, just forget I said anything, ok. It doesn't really matter. I just meant…you asked what to look for and there's not enough human in you to show, aside from whatever you got from hi…."

"Not enough to show?" Jane repeats, more than just a little surprised at this. "I don't look like…I don't look like anything special. I don't even…I can barely feel my magic most of the time; and that's on a good day."

The darkness creeps back around the edges of Mal's eyes, but doesn't spill into her face and Jane only wishes she had that control.

"But you're…how has your mother not taught you anything?" Mal hisses, and it's disbelief and anger and…fear?

"She has," Jane tries, though her magic seems to boil inside her now, and she squirms in a vain effort to relieve the feeling. "She's taught me how to stay calm, to not let my magic get the better of me. To…be invisible."

She hadn't meant for it to go like this, she thinks, fighting the lump in her throat; fighting the pull of Mal's own influence; fighting herself. But while Jane lacked Mal's level of control, she hadn't been lying about her own lessons, and so she breathes through the pain and the boiling and the magic, forces calm until she's no longer shaking.

"Well that's not going to do," Mal says sharply, and Jane lifts her head and doesn't freeze at the violent flashing of green in the other girl's eyes. "I mean, she used magic on Cinderella, who wasn't even related to her. But now because some controlling asshole doesn't want her to, she won't even help you? I thought Auradon parents were more about love and crap than that."

"Of course she loves me," Jane bursts out, shocked and yet, somehow not so shocked that the girl had even suggested such a thing. "It's just, you know…tough love…wanting me to be a better person on my own merits…that sort of thing."

She shrugs, and while there is no true doubt in Jane's mind of her mother's love and intentions towards her, it didn't change the hurt that plagued her consistently over her mother's stance on magic in relation to her happiness.

"That's the face!" Mal bursts out, and Jane jumps, looking up at her in confusion. "Yeah, you just look as if your…your heart is about to break."

Jane stares, still not quite sure what the other girl meant. Mal held up a hand as if to say 'wait a second,' then arranged her features into a mask of perfect heartbreak and grief, chin lowered in a characteristic gesture of submission, eyes only just flitting upwards to make invisible eye contact.

"I just don't understand it, Mother. Why won't you teach me about my magic?"

It was utterly compelling, and if Jane hadn't watched the girl emulate the expression, she almost wouldn't have been able to see the mask for what it was. And yet she's not quite sure it is just a mask; there's something too…raw in Mal's eyes that flick away from Jane's the moment they make eye contact. It's too honest…too…real? The moment it clicks in Jane's mind, the rest of the mask falls away, and she's able to see that while Mal is certainly feigning at making herself seem sympathetic, the way she'd spoken the words made it seem more like she was begging; an odd, desperate lilt in her voice. It occurs to Jane that Mal wasn't simply putting on a mask- she was recreating a moment in time.

"Do…do you really think that will work?" she asks.

Mal chuckles a bit, but there's an echo of the mask behind her eyes that makes it far from genuine. "Well I mean, it's what old Cindy did, right? And it worked just fine for her."

"Did it work for you?"

Mal jerks like Jane's words had been a blow, her jaw clenching tightly and sparks snapping anxiously from her fingers. Then she calms again in the next moment, a painfully fake grin working its way onto her face.

"I uh…I think my mother had the more literal interpretation of that whole…'tough love' thing going on."

"Oh," Jane manages, that unsettling feeling growing as she tries not to think too hard on what that might mean. What the other girl might have had to go through for her past failure.

"But…I mean, this is Auradon we're talking about," Mal continues with a dismissive laugh. "You do that, the Fairy Godmother is bound to give you what you want."

"You really think so?"

"I have to."

"What?" Jane asks, and Mal blinks, then forces out another chuckle as she turns towards the sinks.

"You know…for optimism's sake."

"Right," Jane says, nodding. She files away the advice for later, but there was still something not right tugging at her. Though that could also have to do with the timing of the situation, and the state in which she'd found Mal. Speaking of which….

"Why were you-," Jane begins, then falters as she looks up and sees that Mal's sweater had slipped again, and she can see a series of yellowish-brown bruises across the back of her shoulder. She averts her eyes immediately, but she's almost certain she hadn't been caught that time, the other girl too busy splashing water onto her face to notice Jane's rudeness.

"What's that?" Mal mumbles, tugging her sweater back up and turning, no trace of water on her face despite the fact Jane hadn't seen her grab a towel.

"Nothing," she says, shaking her head. "Only…that if it works and I can convince Mom to use her wand again, you'll be the first to know."

Mal's eyes flicker with something too fast for Jane to interpret, but then she smiles softly, a much more genuine one this time.

"That would be awesome," she murmurs, and Jane grins back, satisfied as the unsettling feeling finally goes away.

She leaves before it has a chance to return, shaking off her questions and concerns, and resolutely not thinking of the fact that the pattern of Mal's fading bruises were distinctly fingerprint shaped. And she definitely doesn't stop to wonder if maybe she'd been too quick to accept Mal's suggestion that she push for her mother to use the wand. After all, it had only been reinforcing what Jane had secretly been hoping for anyway. Maybe it didn't have to be all 'bad' with the VKs; maybe a little good could come of it after all.

Ben

He's knocking at the VK's door again because what else would he be doing at this hour? He fidgets with the sleeves of his jacket, hastily thrown over his pajama sweater in a vain bid for maturity- double checks the time on his watch; (3:30am and he'd normally be with Audrey now but he doesn't even know where she is, let alone what he'd have done or said to her if he'd actually been with her); paces a few feet down the hall then back again if only to keep him from knocking a second (third, fourth) time.

"It's Ben," he finally works up the breath to murmur through the door, his hair just brushing against the faux-gilded number 17. He'd deduced that the VK's probably wouldn't ever separate into their own rooms the way they'd been intended, and so he'd taken to alternating between rooms to knock at whenever he went to visit them. This time, he'd chosen the boys' room, and was rewarded when he hears Evie's voice from the other side.

"Now's not a good time."

She sounds exhausted, but not like she'd just woken up; instead as if she'd never slept, and Ben grimaces and scratches the back of his neck.

"I…I kind of figured," he mumbles awkwardly, glancing back down the hallway and hoping he was being as quiet as he thought he was. "I just…I've got some updates I thought you guys might appreciate knowing about before, well…before the day starts."

"Define day." Evie flings the door open jerkily as she says the words, but wedges herself in between the door frame in place of inviting him inside.

Ben starts at the sight of her; dressed in faded blue-black pants and shirt, sleeves thick and over-long; the collar of the shirt only just managing to stay on her shoulders. Her eyes regard him with a level of suspicion and muted fear that he hadn't seen in her since day one when they'd first arrived; and there's pain in the way she holds herself, and he can't tell if it's pain that's already been inflicted or pain that she's expecting, but it tugs brutally at him all the same.

"Evie," he begins, but then that muted fear flashes sharply, and she stiffens against the door.

"Don't," she snaps, lips curling not unlike Mal's; and then it occurs to Ben that Mal wasn't there, because if she was she would be the one guarding the door from him, no doubt flinging curses and fire and generally being far more convincing a threat than what Evie was trying to be.

"Everything's not ok, is it?" Ben says, instead of the blundering 'are you ok?' that had wanted to be his first instinct.

"Is it ever with us?" Evie murmurs, and he pretends not to hear because he registers something in her tone that said he was never supposed to.

"Anything I can do to help?" he asks, as if in continuation of his own thought, and there's a hint of something soft in Evie's eyes that is countered by the harsh line of her jaw.

"There's nothing I can say that will stop you, so you might as well just come in," Evie sighs, dropping her eyes but not the tense posture as she slowly backs away from the door.

Ben frowns at that, not liking her implication, or the way she'd yielded to him; as if afraid that he would force his way in otherwise.

"You can just say no," he tries, not taking the offered step forward. "I wouldn't be offended, I get that I'm kind of just barging my way in and if it's not a good time…"

"Just come in, Ben," Evie says lowly, crossing her arms and leaning further back until he has full access to the open door.

"Alright," he agrees, and steps inside.

Instantly he feels the tension in the air, along with the deadly edge of…something. It's as if he'd been removed from ice and then shoved too quickly near a furnace- pin pricks of searing heat tingling along his skin in waves so intense he takes a defensive step back towards the door. Evie gives him a look like a regretful 'I told you so,' and if it weren't for the fact that he knew what Mal's magic felt like, he might have believed his instincts when they told him he was about to die.

Instead, he's able to manage a couple deep breaths before sitting carefully in the chair Evie subtly gestures to, only shivering slightly as he takes in the hazardous mess of clothes and wires? on the floor. The window is open, letting in a cool breeze that belies the lingering heat he feels in the air of the room. Evie stands in front of him, arms not exactly crossed but folded over herself, and he recognizes the submission in her pose even as her eyes watch him closely.

"Where…" he begins, then pauses when she tenses and switches tactics immediately. "Where are Jay and Carlos?"

Evie doesn't relax, but the edges of her jaw soften as she speaks, and he's grateful for the correct decision he's made, for once.

"They're in the bathroom," she answers quietly. "Jay…" She hesitates, lips pressing tightly together. "The meeting took a lot out of us. Carlos is helping him refocus."

Ben knows exactly what it is that she's not saying, and he wants to squirm in his chair the way his insides start to, but settles for adjusting his jacket sleeves again.

"I know you probably don't want to hear this, but…I really am sorry for what happened. If I had known that-"

"You did know," Evie snaps before he can properly begin to apologize. "You had the information; you knew what we've been through- what Jay had been through."

He tries to protest, but there's pain and violence and fear in Evie's eyes and he can barely bring himself to draw the necessary breath.

"As if that weren't bad enough, you actively shared that information with our enemies. And yet you have the nerve to sit there and say that you're sorry? To think you're the innocent one in this situation?"

"I didn't mean for any of that to happen," Ben says, and if his voice is too sharp it's because he was sick of being told that he was a failure. "I'm sorry that it did, and I know that means nothing to you but I really was just trying to help. Am trying…I…just want to make things right."

"How overly heroic of you," a new voice drawls from behind him, and Ben lifts his head in time to see Evie lift hers sharply, and Jay scoffs as he moves into Ben's field of view to lean against the wall.

"Of course," the other boy continues, crossing his arms with a shrug. "You're from Auradon, so I think we can…forgive…you that quirk."

"Well don't go out of your way," Ben mumbles, somehow feeling hurt despite the fact that he really didn't have a right to.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Evie hisses, and he's so stunned by her vicious anger that he nearly misses Carlos slink up next to her.

He's feeling particularly ganged up on, and he's not exactly afraid, no…no there's something else underneath. Something almost…thrilled? It's a strange, wild and terrifying sort of eagerness. As if a part of him wanted a fight. Ben doesn't even want to pretend to know what that means, and so he shoves it to the very back of his mind and doesn't.

"The way you said you'd forgive me," he says instead, not even sure which VK to look at. It didn't really matter; the feeling of being ambushed didn't dim regardless of who he was making eye contact with. "It was like it was a foreign concept to you."

Jay lifts a brow at him, and it takes Ben a moment to process the revelation because he's too busy focusing on the fact that the other boy looks so unsettled himself. Like he was just pretending at being ok if only for the sake of intimidating Ben. And despite his awareness of it, he'd be lying if he said he wasn't the slightest bit caught off guard.

"Wait," he says, wrenching his gaze away to meet Evie's softer (yet no less hostile) glare. "Do you guys really not….?"

"Things work a bit differently on the Isle," Evie answers coldly, her fingers twisting in the edges of her shirt and betraying her own fear. "There's no such thing as true forgiveness; just pretending to forget what you've done."

"Grudges are deadly," Jay continues, eyes distant and shadowed; his whole face carrying a hollow set to it. "It doesn't matter if someone says they forgive you if they're still remembering what you did to them. Cuz if they can remember, they can retaliate."

"Tha-tha-that's why we just ssay we ffforget instead," Carlos finishes in a whisper, the only one of the four of them not making eye contact. His hands shake as he fidgets with his dog tail.

"And why we won't say it to you," Jay confirms, and if there's something sadistic and cruel in the corners of his smile, Ben supposes it was only fair.

"Right," he says, clearing his throat. "Well in that case I guess it doesn't really matter how sorry I am, is it?"

"It never mattered for us," Evie replies quietly, and there's a hitch in the cruelty in Jay's lips that makes Ben wonder if the conversation really was as one-way as it appeared.

"Does the fact that I'm owning up to what I did and trying to fix it matter?" he asks, watching Carlos for the clue this time.

The smaller boy's lips twitch even higher than Jay's, but it's bitter and angry more than anything so amused.

"Su-su-sure it does."

"That's sarcasm, isn't it?" Ben interprets, glancing to Evie in time to see the flicker in her eyes; watches the flicker reflect in Jay's.

"Sorry," Jay mutters finally, shoulders lifting higher defensively. "We're making you feel bad, aren't we?"

He blinks, then does it again. "Was that…not the intention?"

"Well shit, I didn't realize we were slipping that much," Jay says in response, but his voice shook too much for it to have been directed solely at him.

"Look, I…if you're mad at me for what I did, that's fine," Ben manages, throat and hands both clenching tightly. "Really; you don't have to forgive me, or…forget or whatever. But I am honestly trying to do the right thing and it'd be nice if people actually believed me when I say that."

He feels a strange static in his chest, and he realizes it's a rumble at the same moment he realizes that it had been a growl he'd said those words with; at the same moment he realizes that they'd heard that….

"I guess that means you're serious," Jay mutters, and though his growl isn't near as impressive as Ben's, it's enough. "But that doesn't mean we can just…trust what you say. Not after…not after…."

"Jay?" Carlos says carefully, head lifting only enough to peer over at the other boy, and Ben has to fight to ignore his useless instinct to ask 'are you ok?' It was obvious that he wasn't, Jay's knuckles white from where he grips his arms, his jaw tight and body stiff.

"After the meeting," Evie breaks in sharply, and Ben recognizes the redirection and follows it obligingly, glad to be closer to where he wanted to be.

"I know," he says, and he does. "But that's why I'm here…what I wanted to tell you. I met with everyone again, afterwards, and…well…there's been a shift."

"Wwhat does that m-m-mean?" Carlos snaps shakily, and Ben pretends to ignore the grimace of disgust that crosses the boy's face as he speaks; isn't sure if he wants to know who it was directed at.

"It means that I've managed to get the Council to agree with me on some things, and that I have some power now to actually make things work."

"What kind of 'things?'" Evie asks, and he can practically see the suspicion as a color in the air.

"Things like improving conditions on the Isle," Ben says, and it's relief and no small hint of pride that colors his announcement, as well as regret that Mal wasn't there to see how he was helping them. "Like actively sending over better materials and food, medicine…making sure people actually get taken care of."

"People?" Jay repeats with a skeptical lift of his brow.

"The people of the Isle," Ben clarifies carefully, not sure what the other boy was getting at.

"Like our parents?" Evie asks quietly, and he feels his stomach clench.

"Like everyone," he tries to amend, but inwardly he's cursing himself for not having thought through the ramifications of providing aid to their tormentors. "But my main focus is the kids on the Isle. I…I want to bring over as many as I can."

Wide eyes and blank faces meet his statement, and Ben is startled to realize that it's not just surprise. The VKs' expressions were carefully blank; crafted masks to hide whatever true feelings they had. He's learned now what to look for, and so he watches Jay's hands clench in tight fists beneath his crossed arms; notes the twitch in Evie's jaw; the way Carlos flinches before forcing himself to relax.

"I bet everyone else on the Council was thrilled at that idea," Jay finally drawls, and Ben allows himself a wry smirk.

"They're nervous, of course," he says slowly. "But more or less on board."

"And how exactly did you manage that?" Evie quips, but her shoulders are tight with pain, fear flickering in her eyes.

"I might have taken advantage of their guilt a little," Ben admits shamelessly, and Jay lets out a startled huff of laughter before containing himself.

"Wouldn't have expected that of the Golden Boy," he scoffs, and while Ben feels a pang at the derision (at the nickname), he doesn't begrudge the feeling behind it. Not entirely, anyway.

"You'd be surprised just how many people actually want to help you guys," he says, instead of the sharper retort that springs to mind. "But it is going to take some time to get the other kids off the Isle. The Council wants to take things slow and 'focus on the four we have now.'"

"Good," Carlos bites out, and though his voice is shaky, the ferocity behind it catches Ben off guard.

"Good?" He repeats, uncertain. "You mean you guys want…"

"Want your help?" Evie finishes, and there's an incredulity and bitterness that colors her words sharp. "No, we've learned our lesson about that."

It's Ben's turn to flinch, though he manages to contain the reflex enough so it's hopefully not as obvious as he feared. Carlos' expression flickers, however, and he knows he hadn't succeeded.

"What he means is it's good that they aren't bringing anyone else over right away," Evie clarifies tightly. "There's definitely those on the Isle that shouldn't be here."

Ben jerks again at that, stunned and…horrified? Is that the churning in his gut or just the tension in the room?

"Everyone deserves a chance to have a better life," he manages, meeting Evie's gaze evenly. "If I'd let myself be convinced otherwise…if I believed what you said…you guys wouldn't be here."

Jay snorts through his nose, but otherwise remains silent, his lips quirking with something Ben can't quite define.

"What was that thing you said your decree was?" Evie responds lowly, matching his stare right back, which throws him off because she's shaking ever so slightly. "'The children of the worst villains?' Believe me when I tell you that there are those on the Isle far worse than us, and if your council thinks that we will destroy Auradon- they would do it a whole lot faster."

"Messier, too," Jay rumbles with a short dip of his chin, his eyes dark and sadistic.

"Well," Ben swallows the hitch in his throat and has to actively ignore his feeling of being threatened. "It's a good thing I'm asking you guys for help avoiding that then, isn't it?"

"Ex-ex-excu- What?" Carlos' expression sours briefly over his slip up, but his previous hostility fades with his confusion.

"While I don't entirely agree with your belief, I do want to be careful about who I bring over when the time comes," Ben says, ignoring the glare Evie throws his way. "Which is why I'd like to work with you guys and get your opinions on the people I'm thinking of."

"And just who would that be?" Jay drawls, and Ben is relieved that while he doesn't sound interested, he, too has lost his dangerous edge.

"I'm not entirely sure yet," he feels vaguely comfortable enough admitting. "I have some thoughts, but like I said, I kinda just want to focus on you guys for right now. But it'd be nice to know I have your agreement, at least."

Carlos glances over to Evie, then Jay when he receives stony silence from the girl. Jay shrugs a shoulder, looking just as uncertain, and after a moment, Evie drops her eyes, shoulders coming up defensively.

"I don't know," she admits quietly. "We'd have to think about it. It's dangerous."

"Dangerous for you, or for everyone?" Ben probes cautiously, and her lips go back in a tight grimace even as her eyes remain firmly downcast.

"Is there a difference?"

He thinks for a moment, then tilts his head in concession. "Fair enough. I knew it'd be a bit much to take in so, yeah."

The tension goes out of her shoulders, and she flashes him a grateful look that promptly freezes on her face. Instinct has Ben tensing as well, a prickle of cold along the back of his neck the only thing he gets in warning before:

"You have till three to get out of this room."

He inhales sharply, and then hears:

"Three."

And then he's on his feet and whirling to meet Mal's livid expression; green eyes bright and wild, flames lapping at her wrists and flickering almost as harshly as her face. She looks beautiful. She looks terrifying, is the correct term. And still Ben thinks, idly, that if this was how he was going to die…there were worse ways.

Then:

"Mal, enough."

And Evie's voice is so dark and violent that it jolts him out of…whatever it was he'd been in. Mal's jaw clenches so tightly he fears it might break, but there's an equally dark and violent and considering look in Mal's eyes and he finds himself thinking he should be a bit more afraid of what else she might break. She snaps her fingers and sends more of the flame spitting to the floor, and the strange and dangerous part of Ben wants to snarl and meet the challenge with one his own, but he forces it back. Somehow he doesn't think a fight to the death would be appreciated after all the good he'd just had to work for.

"Mal," Ben says in place of the snarl, trying to make his smile look genuine. (Since when did he have to try?) "I'm glad you're here."

"Oh are you now?" Mal has no trouble initiating the snarl he hadn't, but there's something off about it that Ben can't place. "And why is that?"

"Because now I can share the other part of my news without having to repeat it," Ben finishes, and Mal stares a moment with an undefinable look in her eyes.

"News?"

"Good news," he's quick to clarify, because he's realized that it was fear at the same moment the flames inch to her elbows.

"Yeah, ok. Did you miss that it's after four in the morning? Or the get out of this room part?"

Evie hisses something under her breath behind him that has Mal stiffening sharply, and he senses the brutal shift in targets and subtly steps in time to place himself once more in Mal's focus. She blinks, as if unsure how he'd blocked her or why, but he simply offers a gentle shrug and silently hopes that no one else would draw her attention.

"I know it's late…or early, but I wanted to give you a heads up before the actual day started, just so you knew what was going on."

"How fucking thoughtful," Mal snaps, but her eyes are no longer on him, and he isn't sure why that scares him.

"Look," he says, angling his body enough to gauge the others' reactions. "I can tell that there's something else going on here, and while I might not know what-"

"You're right, you don't know, so you don't get to comment on it."

"I'd say he has more right to comment than you," Jay bites back, unfurling from his position by the wall and lashing out not unlike a serpent. "At least Ben acknowledges when he's fucked up and hurt someone and tries to make things right."

"I thought you didn't like when I did that?" Ben mumbles sheepishly, and Evie shoots him a sideways look.

"Points are being made, Ben," she says shortly, and he presses his lips together and lifts his brows.

"Apparently."

"They're useless points," Mal says, and if there was something more wild than a snarl, it's there in her voice; curling in her lips; stiffening her jaw and brows. "It's already been established that there's more important things at stake than just…."

"Just our happiness and free will?" Evie finishes, head cocking bitterly, teeth flashing a painful smile.

"Like your safety and continued existence," Mal retorts, eyes narrowing, and Ben mirrors Jay and Carlos' hesitant steps backwards at the thinly veiled threat.

While the other boys' steps take them towards the bedroom wall, Ben's takes him closer to the door, and he decides that in this case, leaving early might not be a bad idea.

"Look," he says slowly as he moves. "It's clear there's a lot more going on right now than I realized and I think maybe I should just give you guys some privacy. I uh…kinda don't want to intrude on-"

"Something that's been a long time coming?" Evie says lowly, and both Jay and Carlos freeze, eyes widening and breaths sharpening in their chests.

Even Mal stops, and Ben pauses with his hand blindly reaching for the door still three feet behind him, recognizing something big here.

"Do you really want to challenge me right now?" Mal whispers, and it's pained and raw and deadly, eyes bright green and sinister.

"No," Evie whispers right back, own eyes wet and smile wobbly. "I really don't, actually. But you've made it clear you won't back down on this so what other choice is there?"

Mal's eyes flash brighter even as she stiffens at Evie's words, and Ben has the door at his back and yet he can't leave.

"Why do you think I'm doing this?" Mal murmurs, and Ben wants to yank the door open and run, but he's paralyzed, helpless to even stop his ears against things he knows he shouldn't be a part of. "You think I'm being selfish, is that it? That I don't care enough?"

"This was supposed to be a fresh start for us," Evie answers, somehow calm…no…cold, in the midst of Mal's heat. "A chance for the four of us to be and do better."

"This was never a fresh start and you know that. We can't…I can't afford to think like that anymore. Holding onto…hopes….like that…things like that…they get you killed."

Mal sucks in a breath that might have been sharp; the realization at having said more than intended. It lasts only a second before it tapers off into defeat, a choked noise slipping past her tightly closed lips, her jaw twitching sharply to the left.

"It gets you killed, Eve, and I can't…I can't…I can't take that risk again."

There's clarity in there somewhere, but she's shaking and crying and there's no fire but the heat of her magic is smothering all the same and Ben is- he can't do anything-he can't…he's...weak, powerless, can't do anything right can't do anything at all can't help can't...he can't help here.

It's all he can manage to get out into the hallway, and it's only with the door firmly behind him that he's able to come back into his own thoughts. He isn't entirely sure if he wants to know what had just happened, what was continuing to happen behind that door. He's never felt that way before. Helpless, yes; powerless, sure. He'd felt that defeat when he'd first gone in to meet with the Council. But to feel it at that level...that intensity... He shakes himself, tries to remember how to breathe.

'It gets you killed,' Mal had said, and that utter helplessness had spiked inside him, surrounding him at her words. Did she really believe they were in that much danger here? He'd thought they were doing good, that the VKs were starting to settle, (bumps and hitches notwithstanding) that maybe with this new turn of votes and tides would mean things could finally start changing for the better. But it wasn't enough...it could never be enough to combat what they'd gone through...he could never be enough...

"B-Ben! Wai-wai-wait!"

He jerks at the slam of the door; at the half-desperate cry for his attention. He blinks, and his thoughts clear again and it's as he's turning to face a trembling Carlos it occurs to him that 1) this is what magic feels like, why his father has always been so afraid of it taking over Auradon- because Mal's magic definitely could and he's terrified but not as terrified as he probably should have been over the thought- and 2), the more important of the thoughts, that Carlos was talking to him.

"Hey, Carlos," Ben greets, shifting his attention away from the door and to the smaller boy, who bobbed his head a couple times before bravely snapping his eyes up to meet Ben's, fingers twitching at his sides.

"I…I nneed…." Carlos' jaw clicks shut tightly, fingers twitching harder and body stiffening as if trying to physically keep the words in.

Ben does his best to appear as nonthreatening as he could, shifting his weight back into a more relaxed stance. Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect as Carlos instantly flinches, body curling sharply in defense and eyes flashing fearful at Ben, words blurting violently from his lips.

"I nneed your help!" Carlos yelps, then freezes, eyes widening as if he'd just realized as Ben had, that he'd nearly spoken completely without stutter.

"You need my help?" Ben repeats, equal parts incredulous and pleased, hope swelling just as much as…dread? Why did he feel….?

"Please?" Carlos whispers, eyes just as hopeful, body just as tight with an undefinable dread. "You-you-you're the only one who mmmight know…."

"Know what?" Ben asks, suddenly uncertain.

Carlos hesitates a moment, then reaches into his pocket and pulls out a cell phone. He tinkers with it for a bit, then turns the screen to Ben. Once his eyes adjust to the dim glow he's able to make out letters, then when his brain registers that, he's able to recognize a name.

'Isaac. H-'

It's not a name that instantly sticks out to him, but there's something frantic and pleading and terrified in Carlos' eyes as he watches Ben read the name, which makes it all the harder to shake his head and step back again.

"I don't know who that is, Carlos, I'm sorry," he says, and Carlos nods, but it's not in defeat.

"No, but your…your p-p-p-parents," he blurts out, shifting his weight anxiously and glancing at the name on the screen again. "They have books, rright? They know about-about-about us…."

"You want me to look in the records for this…Isaac?" Ben asks, just so he's sure he's got it right.

Carlos nods again, body uncurling from its fearful defensive posture. "Please?"

"I mean, I can try," Ben says, ignoring the way his stomach flips at the thought. "I just…I don't want to go digging again and finding things that I shouldn't be. I'd hate to-"

"He's important," Carlos snaps, and Ben blinks, but the other boy maintains eye contact, lips tight and expression determined. "You have to look."

"Who is he?" Ben asks, because anyone important enough to make Carlos not only approach him and talk to him without stuttering, then he was definitely someone Ben wanted to know.

"I…I don't know," Carlos mumbles, suddenly shrinking back into submission and defeat, eyes cutting to the side. "But it's…he's imp-portant."

"I'll try," Ben promises, nodding his agreement. "I can't guarantee I'll find anything, but I'll try."

Carlos' lips twitch into a grateful smile, and Ben is about to remark on just how well their first true interaction was going, but Carlos beat him to the punch.

"What-what…what was your other news?" he asks quietly, brow furrowing with worry and that dreadful hope.

"Right, yes…um….," Ben shifts, adjusts his sleeves again and tries to relax because it is good news. "Mr. Kropp, the uh…the biology teacher…."

Carlos tenses before he can finish, eyes wary and expression dark and fearful again. "Wh-wh-what about him?"

"He's being fired," Ben finishes quickly, if only to get that look off the other boy's face. "Well, being tried for…for repeated abuse of students and um…and then being fired, but…I thought you'd want to know."

Carlos doesn't say anything for a moment, face going carefully blank and not even his hands fidget to give him away. Then he swallows, brow furrowing slightly as his eyes lift again.

"You sa-said students…like…like more than…more than…more than me?"

Ben can't help the grimace that twists his expression, guilt churning his stomach. "Yeah um…apparently you're not the first to complain about some of the things he's done and said…but there was never any official documentation or records kept cuz I guess it was just so unheard of."

Carlos fixes him with a flat look, and Ben winces again and tries to keep plowing forward with some grace.

"But then with all the talks amongst the Council and the previous information found from investigating, it was brought back up and…and things are being done about it."

"Who?"

"Sorry?"

Carlos shuffles in place and glances back over his shoulder as if only just now realizing the possibility of being overheard.

"Wh-who else did he….?"

'You know you can tell me anything…tell me what happened.'

'He said I'm not a valid member of royalty…I'm nothing…' 'He said 'that's not how Princes were supposed to behave but I suppose I shouldn't expect that from you seeing as you aren't a true Prince, let alone charming…' 'said 'it's a good thing you take after your mother…' 'said 'perhaps if you're lucky you'll find someone pretty to marry you, to make up for your lack of intelligence' and 'he said' 'he said' 'he said' but you can't say anything Ben, promise you won't tell anyone, promise you won't it's not a big deal it's just a bruise I've had worse hits in Tourney it'll go away he'll go away don't say anything Ben!

"Oh, um…." Ben studiously ignores the memories threatening to creep up further than the back of his mind; half-remembered pleas and promises of secrecy; of anger and helplessness and pain; of the loathing and bitterness because it wasn't how things were supposed to happen here. "It's…confidential."

The dubious look Carlos gives him more than expresses the bitter irony of the situation, but Ben felt like he'd given away enough of people's traumatizing secrets for the time being. There were more productive things he could be doing. Should be doing, really, now that he'd mostly gotten the good (and bad) out of the way.

"Um…but he won't be mistreating you or anyone else again," Ben finishes firmly. Confidently. "That was the other bit of news I wanted to tell you."

"W-w-well thanks," Carlos mutters, shrugging an uncertain shoulder. "I think?"

"Don't worry, Fairy Godmother is searching for a new Biology teacher with much better credentials and history, but until then, you and Jay'll be taking Chemistry with Mr. Deley along with Mal and Evie. Different time slots, but um…she's got the details on how that'll work and….what's that look for?"

Carlos was looking…very bright-eyed, actually, head up and mouth opening in something far too enthusiastic considering how sudden a change this was.

"I get to blow sstuff up?" He asks, and there's a hushed awe in his voice that directly combats the odd gleam in his eyes, and Ben finds himself thinking (not for the first time) that the VKs were capable of being dangerous.

"The correct answer is no, you don't intentionally get to blow things up, although there are sometimes mishaps in the lab. Mr. Deley's good about keeping everyone on track though, so there's a minimum of any 'accidents.'"

Carlos mutters something that sounded like 'we'll see about that' under his breath, but when he met Ben's gaze it was with utter innocence. Ben shakes his head and lets out a brief chuckle in spite of himself.

"You know, you might want to consider channeling some of that destructive energy into Tourney. It's a sport we play here, kind of like…well, I don't know how to compare it to anything you be familiar with…."

Carlos blinks at him, and he trails off sheepishly, reconsidering his words.

"Anyway, it's a lot of fun. Tryouts are coming up this week, you…you should bring Jay. I think it might be good for him."

Carlos blinks again at that, but it's with something careful and considering this time. "You-you think so?"

"I…yeah," Ben affirms, offering a brief smile. "Yeah I do."

Carlos thinks a moment more, then nods slowly. "Ok."

"Ok?" Ben repeats, hopeful and yet not entirely sure.

Carlos shrugs, but one corner of his mouth lifts upwards ever so slightly. "I'd have to convince him fffirst but…but I think ok."

"Well great! That'd be awesome if you could. And I know Aziz would be thrilled to have you on the team…."

"Wait. Aziz is…he's part of this t-t-t-tourney thing?"

"Is…I didn't think that was…. That's not a problem, is it?"

Carlos' eyes flash and his smile turns mischievous. "Nno," he denies, and Ben is relieved for all of two seconds. "I just meant if Aziz is p-part of it, Jay will hhhave to be, if only to try and beat him."

"Right," Ben mutters, not sure whether or not that could be a good thing. "Rivalry."

"Do-do-do-don't worry about it," Carlos says, and though it's mostly lighthearted, there's something solemn in his eyes that has Ben recognize it as a threat.

"I won't," he decides, and nods to affirm his promise. "I'll trust your expertise on how to manage all of that, and I'll just stick with trying to do what I can to fix things."

Carlos nods, but looks doubtful himself, and Ben feels guilty all over again.

"If I told you I'm sorry, would that mean anything to you?" he asks quietly, and Carlos blinks, then shrugs one shoulder, expression again that careful blank.

"Nnot…not really, no," he murmurs, and Ben nods, lips pursing, defeat sinking in again and latching deep. Carlos must see something in his expression because he fidgets and tugs at his hair a bit before continuing.

"Wo-words don't matter on the Isle," he says slowly, eyes flickering from Ben's to the ground and back again. "When people…people can ssay one thing and do…something wo-orse. You say you're sorry- that you-you don't mean to….but then you do…worse."

"I'm not trying to do worse," Ben mumbles back, but Carlos just shrugs again, eyes no longer meeting his.

"I-I-I-if you're really sorry…do…something."

Ben supposes it made sense; actions speaking louder than words. To him, and to most of Auradon, really, your words were who you were; how you spoke- what you spoke- they made up a list indicating your values. They weren't as action-oriented as it appeared the Isle clearly was. Maybe…maybe it was time to change in other ways. Think in other ways.

"Would finding out who your mystery person is count as 'doing?'" Ben probes, only half teasing.

Carlos laughs shortly, some of the foreboding aura leaving him. "It mmight," he says back, lips twitching just the slightest bit upwards.

"Well then I'll start there," Ben says, and he means it in words; the only thing he has to express his promise for now, but he also means it in the way that counts. He'd do it. "Any ideas on what I can do to make it up to Mal and Evie?"

He'd been hoping for more good things, but instead, Carlos goes pale, eyes widening and body stiff.

"Oh sshiit," he hisses, head whipping as if to turn, then freezing mid-step to glance at Ben in terror. "I…I gotta…"

And then he's gone, back the few feet down the hall, the door to the VKs' shared room slamming shut behind him.

"O- ok," Ben mutters, blinking as he processes the incredibly abrupt departure. "Good talk."

Then he shakes himself because you know what it had been a good talk, and he wasn't going to let this opportunity go to waste. He'd start with what he'd been given, and maybe…maybe in time he could make things better. With this new purpose in mind he sets off back down the hall, then stops at the top of the stairs as a sudden thought occurs to him.

"Where did he get a cell phone?"

Evie

Evie sat on top of a barrel in a corner of the hideout and watched Mal watch Dizzy. The girl had been with them- had been theirs- for almost a month now, but every now and then Evie would catch Mal staring at the girl with an undefinable look on her face. For a time, Evie had feared it was displeasure, that Mal might be regretting her decision to bring the child into their ranks. Then it had changed to darker like suspicion, and though Mal had never acted on it (as far as Evie knew), it was beginning to wear on the older girl.

"Leave it alone, Mal," Evie muttered, securing a knot in the yarn she was winding around her fingers.

"It's not your concern, E," Mal said back, not even turning as she spoke, eyes narrow as Dizzy started to organize a shelf.

"She's mine," Evie replied firmly, not backing down despite the way her hands shook at going so directly against their leader like this. "It's entirely my concern."

Mal drew a breath to say something back, but then straightened, eyes flashing a bright green. "That's it," she mumbled, then raised her voice. "Everyone out. Now."

There was an abrupt stop in movement from the rest of the crew, eyes turning doubtful at her sudden dismissal, then the movement shifted to desperation at her snarled command, careful clamoring and rushing for the one door and the multiple windows.

"Jay, follow the pests back and make sure they stay where they're supposed to," Mal spoke over the retreat, glaring at the triplets, who made faces at her when she turned her head. "Carlos, mark the East Side as you go; you can start the rounds tonight."

Carlos looked like he was about to protest, but then thought better of it and nodded, grabbing up the flashlight he'd been tinkering with and clicking the button a few times to get it to work. He was out the door moments later, the sound of the clicking button the only thing indicating his presence. Evie grit her teeth and tied off the final bit of yarn before straightening sharply.

"And me?" she demanded, knowing all too well where Mal was going with this.

The other girl cast her a sideways look but otherwise remained silent, turning back to ensure the removal of everyone else. Dizzy shifted near the bookcase, one hand nervously adjusting her glasses while the other hugged her side.

"And me?" she repeated softly, eyes nervous and almost guilty, as if she somehow knew she was the source of Mal's insanity.

"You. Stay."

The girl nodded slowly, eyes downcast, and Evie stood from her barrel, while Mal remained curled up on hers, one leg tucked to her chest while the other swung lazily back and forth. Her green eyes remained sharp, however, finally lifting to meet Evie's only when everyone else had left.

"What are you playing at, Mal?" Evie hissed, and Mal lifted a brow which only served to infuriate her further.

"Playing?" Mal repeated softly, and it took all Evie had to keep from shuddering at the danger in the other girl's tone. "This is life and death, E. The next drop is in two days and I can't have…."

"A liability?" Evie snapped, hands tightening at her sides.

Mal's eyes were solid jade when they snapped back up to hers, the severity in her glare as if from someone far older than her eleven years.

"If that's the word you want to use," she said coldly. "Then, yes. I can't risk anything or anyone in this crew if we're going to survive."

"And is she included in that risk?" Am I?

Mal stands in place of answering her, uncurling fluidly from her barrel and taking a single step forward, just enough to break the eye contact Evie had been maintaining.

"It begs the question of you, brat," Mal says, and Evie's jaw clenches, her stomach twisting at the anxieties running through her head. "What's your poison?"

"My…poison?" Dizzy repeated uncertainly, eyes flickering back and forth between Mal and Evie, fingers still gripping tightly to one corner of the bookshelf. Like she might bring it down if the threat demanded it.

"Not like, literally or anything," Mal said, waving a dismissive hand. "We already have Jay for that and we don't really need another assassin."

Dizzy flinched minutely into the bookshelf, and Mal paused, seeming to realize the effect she was having on the younger girl. Some of the severity left her shoulders, and for just a moment she appeared relaxed. Dizzy believed it, at least-her fingers loosening their grip from the bookshelf; but Evie knew better, and she took a step forward, reclaiming some of the previous eye contact.

"Mal-"

"No," Mal snarls, eyes flashing sharply to the side, and Evie can't help but flinch at the warning in them. At the threat. "No," she says, softer, to Dizzy. "I mean, why are you here? Why this crew? Why me?"

Dizzy blinked, head tilting to the side as she considered a moment, then she shrugged a shoulder, eyes meeting Mal's boldly. "It's like you said, isn't it?" She answered easily, with no hesitation. "Survival."

"How so?" Mal replied, chin lifting in anticipation of further challenge.

"You take care of your crew," Dizzy stated, brow furrowing and eyes cutting to Evie as if it were obvious and why didn't she see that? "Uma doesn't. It was the best choice, all things considered."

"I take care of what's mine," Mal retorts, though something was playing at her lips.

"Yeah," Dizzy said, nodding her head slowly. "Isn't that why I'm still here?"

Evie

The bedroom was on fire.

Green licked up and down the thick, dark curtains, whipping about and sending sparks raining about; which in turn reignited and caught among the bedsheets; the furniture; the carpets.

And the human occupants.

"What's your poison, Mal?"

Evie cocks her head, ignoring the heat. She was cold enough to combat it easily. Mal makes a choking noise and the fire pops violently, etching its way further up the other girl's arms. Evie can practically see the magic twist and curve as it moves along its destructive path. A small part of her feels jealous. The larger part wraps her own instinctive magic closer, letting its cold continue to shield from the heat.

"What are you doing here?"

"Stop it, Eve," Mal rasps, voice breaking over even the lone syllable, pain twisting her face as the fire reaches her shoulders.

"I'm not the one burning the room down," Evie retorts, and behind her, one of the curtains starts to whine in protest; the metal not used to such magical abuse.

"It's not…I'm not…." Mal tries, but only succeeds in maintaining her current position. Burning.

"Oh, just making a point then?" Evie says, lifting a brow and barely containing a flinch at another loud pop of sparks by her feet. "Yeah, you're good at that. Why don't you tell me then? Tell me why I'm wrong."

Mal's jaw twitches in place of a verbal response, head shaking back and forth almost as desperately as the curtains to Evie's back.

"Stop," she pleads, and Evie is grateful for the shower of sparks that forces her eyes shut. She isn't sure she could handle seeing Mal's eyes like this.

"I can't," she says, biting back her own plea, wrapping her cold just a bit tighter. "You've made it so I can't. Why this, Mal? Why couldn't you just let us have this?"

"Dangerous," Mal bites out, and there's the guttural hiss of a held-back cry coloring her voice.

"Auradon's isn't the danger to us," Evie answers, shaking despite the temperature in the room. "Maybe it could have been, but now…."

"You think I'm the one that's dangerous," Mal finishes hoarsely, and the smile on her face is a grimace more than anything, and a cold pit opens in Evie's stomach that has nothing to do with her own magic.

On a hunch, a whim, a dare, she reaches for the nearest burning object –one of the large cushion-like chairs- and bites back a curse when all she feels is a tickle of heat. It's hot, yes, but it's not…burning….anything, now that Evie is looking closely. Nothing in the room is actually on fire except for

"Mal," Evie gasps, horror twisting her face as she whips back around to face the other girl, whose mouth opens in a gruesome mockery of a smile.

"Ha," she pants weakly. "Guess I really am the liability now, huh?"

"Stop it!" Evie demands, and her own magic suddenly feels stifling; too dense; too thick. "Why are you doing this?"

Something snaps- Evie watches the break happen as the fire leaves Mal's eyes- slowly starts to suffocate and wither from the room. From the room, but not…not from Mal. The flames eat their torturous way higher up Mal's shoulders, teasing at the curves of her neck. Mal's jaw tightens against it even as her face twists in pain, and Evie reaches desperately for the cold pool of her magic, pools it deeper and colder and then pushes.

The effect is almost instantaneous. The gradual smothering of the fire in the room immediately douses, leaving a bitter, ashy taste in the air. Evie fights the gag of panic that rises in the back of her throat, ignores the stab of pain behind her eyes and the rough, scratchy feel of a brick wall beneath her fingers. (Nearly ignores, anyway.)

Mal chokes on a noise like a scream as the flames feeding on her body are suddenly doused, and Evie trades the gag for a curse, staring at the red blisters covering the backs of Mal's hands. She can see a similar pattern snaking its way up her wrists, but the fabric of her sweater obscures the rest of the damage from view. She can only really guess as to the extent of the injuries, yet she isn't sure if she really does want to know.

"Mal," she hisses, and the other girl looks up sharply, then laughs, eyes falling again and Evie can't stand to see Mal so submissive. Not to her.

"t's fine," Mal slurs, lips cracked and swollen. "It'll…it's fine, E."

"None of this is fucking fine, Mal!"

"Ha," Mal chokes humorlessly, that harsh rasp of pain. "Aren't…aren't we a pair?"

Evie shakes her head, closes her eyes again because she couldn't…do this right now. Couldn't give in to this right now.

"When you said earlier, that our survival was at stake-"

"No." Mal hisses sharp between her teeth, and Evie can't hide her own wince at the pain in the other girl's voice. At the fear. "Not that."

Evie opens her eyes, lets the cold back in just enough to lift her guard; to numb the sensation of brick under her hands.

"It was a threat, but you didn't mean you."

"Don't." Mal lowers her head, and Evie swallows hard at the realization that this was Mal begging.

It's a heady feeling, having power over one so in power, and Evie pauses just a moment to wonder if this is what it felt like. Control. Then dread stabs sharp in her gut and twists, and she looks back to Mal in time to watch a shudder work its way through the other girl's body. And that's what it feels like.

"Tell me."

Mal stiffens, shoulders coming up and jaw working hard against a reply. Her face twists again and her eyes are bright when they flit to Evie's, and normally she'd give in then; yield to Mal; let it go. But she can't this time, and she hardens her own resolve even as Mal begins to protest in the form of her name.

"E-"

"It wasn't a question."

Mal flinches back, and there's that sharp twitch of her jaw to the left; there's that submission; there's that vulnerability and it hurts.

"Mal."

"She promised your death!" Mal screams; chokes the words.

And suddenly Evie is wishing that the room were still on fire. It would make her loss of breath much easier to justify.

"Maleficent?" she finds herself asking needlessly, and Mal lets out another choking sob, head lowering minutely.

"Your death…for…for my failure."

"Specifically?" Evie mutters weakly, and Mal's lips twitch without humor.

"All of you," she whispers, and the gnawing pit open wider. "And even…even if we did manage it, there's no way she'll let me…let me keep you."

"What?" Evie has to actively fight to keep the cold from overtaking her; to keep images of Carlos…of Jay…of…her…dead…out of her mind.

"She hated the idea of you to begin with," Mal murmurs, her whole body sagging under the weight of her words. Of her defeat. "She always said that relying on others was a sure sign of weakness; that if I were to succeed in Auradon I was going to need to become a dragon."

Mal lets out a bitter laugh that breaks in the middle. "She didn't care about Carlos; thought he was too weak from the start. Jay…it was after…all she'd do was twist her face; this- this disgust- and I'd know she was talking about him. Never his name, either…always just…just…."

"Mal," Evie breathes, own voice breaking in the midst of her plea.

"And you," Mal cries instead, one hand clenching tight and shaky, the other running damaged fingers through damaged hair. "She hated you most of all…because of all of…you were the only one even close to being my equal—no, fuck…let's be honest since they love that sort of shit here…better."

Evie jerks her head back, the laugh the slips past her lips instinct alone. "Clearly you still have a bit of Isle in you if you're going to try and give me that bullshit."

"Bullshit!"

Mal hisses at the same time, fury and pain and fear all at once.

"Bullshit, E, and you fucking know it."

"No," Evie snaps, but she's shaking and she hates Mal for doing this to her. "No you can't just…you don't get to put that on me!"

"I didn't," Mal says, quiet, eyes down even as her jaw tightens. "I yielded to you, remember? Because you're right- when it comes down to it, I don't care enough to risk everything for this."

"You still think Auradon is a danger, then?"

"I think Auradon is temporary," Mal bites back, the heat in the room flaring again before dying down. "As long as she…"

"She's on the Isle," Evie counters, and Mal blinks but doesn't quite make eye contact. "I know, that's stupid to say and believe me I don't doubt…" she inhales sharply, then breathes. "I don't doubt her intentions. But she isn't…here."

"Only for so long," Mal says, head shaking back and forth again, both hands tangling in her hair. "Only for so long and I can't…."

"Then don't," Evie says, and Mal's breath catches in her throat and she swallows to keep from doing the same. "You said it yourself…you…you yielded to me."

It was strange, saying it out loud. Like it had actually been a thing that happened. Mal cocks her head, one corner of her mouth twitching into something bitter-sweet but satisfied, and Evie doesn't really want to think on all that might mean right now.

"So then, don't. No…plans…no breaking the barrier. No one ends up dead."

"It can't be that simple," Mal argues, but even Evie can see the desperate hope in her eyes. The fear of relief.

"It could be," Evie insists, because she has to. "We're doing things the Auradon way from now on. For real. We're going to make things good for us."

"Ha," Mal mutters, eyes finally, finally, meeting hers. "Told you."

"What?"

"You could be better than me." Mal says it with a grin that is definitely pride, and Evie scoffs to hide just how deeply it affected her.

"Well just because I'm discarded royalty doesn't mean I don't have standards to live up to."

When Mal laughs, it's far more genuine, and Evie allows herself a tired, if slightly victorious, smile. "As long as I don't have to conform to those standards, I'll be fine with that."

"Always rotten," Evie sighs, shaking her head.

"To the core."

Isaac

There's a crack forming in one of the glaciers. It's infinitesimal, minute, insignificant…it's small- but deep enough that Isaac notices it; in the same way he notices everything. In the same way he notices that the windows bear smudges and odd fogged-over patches at about waist height, meaning that the snow creature -Olaf- had been in the throne room again, pressing his face against the glass to watch the snow fall. Which didn't make any sense to him, the thing was made of snow, what more fascination with it could it –he- have?

On a whim, Isaac pressed his hand to the glass, leaning forward and looking out over the mountain and down the steep cliffside the castle rested upon. It was a dizzying sensation, the ice nearly black as night? No, that's a stupid cliché it's ice it's white except for where it's not and then it's as black as…the Isle. Cruella.

Isaac sucks a sharp breath that clears the fog on the window, then it re-fogs as he exhales just as sharply. Best not to follow that line of thinking too far…best not to dwell- better to just wait. And notice everything else; notice the pattern the snow takes on the windowsill, nearly identical to the motifs littered about the place. Notice the curve of the mountain and the depth of the darkness beneath it and the little blurred line of color where it meets the muddled yellow of the village. Wonder if he'd become just as muddled hitting the bottom, or if he'd scatter like the snow. Notice Elsa enter the room, but he can't notice her yet because he's still too busy counting out all the ways a fall from this height might-

Cold at his back.

"Isaac."

Oh. Right.

"Elsa," he says as he turns to her, and his breath is mist in the air. "I mean…Your Highness."

She fixes him with a look and a quirk of her lips, and he flinches as he waits for the onslaught of all that look entails….

"The report," she says sternly, and he sucks a sharp breath for the second time thus far because how was he supposed to tell her?

"Yes," he's quick to blurt out instead, crossing a few strides closer to her and trying to appear in control. He was in control; he was control; he was Creator to the very thing that gave her Kingdom its life; he was- "Sorry. I was just..."

'Just contemplating the many ways in which your body could survive tumbling off this cliff? There aren't that many- I've checked.'

He snaps his head up, hands shaking and breath freezing in his throat. Elsa fixes him with another cool look (ha. ha. ha) and he can't stop the panic from hitting him because he can't figure out which Elsa and –Snow Queen, shattered mirrors, shattered glass, his body flung into the fjord- but no, it couldn't be he's done that one he's written that one and he can't be he can't be because otherwise there wouldn't be...

"Auradon," Elsa prods icily, and he straightens, the memories flowing back through him- reality, back through him- and he nods, swallowing hard and cursing his…Curse. So you're going to take that form, this time? "How is the situation with our 'neighbors'?"

"Unsettling, for lack of a better word," he replies, and bristles because he could think of a millennia's worth of better words except it's images that bombard him now, and he can't get his thoughts to focus.

"The boy-king is as incompetent as we feared and yet, for all his…youth…he is trying. Naïve, but trying." Wouldn't have to be so useless…not for long. I could probably write a much better- no!

'I wonder what good his trying will do when there's already been so much bloodshed- and so much more to come.'

Isaac shudders and fights to remain upright, to not cower as self-preservation as weakness as instinct would have him. It wouldn't do to show weakness before the Snow Queen. Elsa glances back at him and the light reflects diamonds against the ice of her cape and light? But she was...light…light, he reminds himself. She was light and snow not dark. Not her.

"I can never help but wonder why you insist on verbal and audio reports, when it appears that such things only serve to distract you," Elsa murmurs, and though her tone is mild, there's some kind of bite to her words that instantly sets him on his guard. "Surely there are more efficient ways to record what needs to be made note of?"

"Ha," he tries for a laugh but his stomach feels like it's being crushed in a vise. "There probably are, but the paper and pen is…outdated, for me." –or, he's outdated for the paper and pen- "I prefer keeping track of things audibly; makes things easier to record."

"Even though you are, technically, employed as Royal Scribe and Emissary," Elsa quips. "Both positions of which typically require proficiency with pen and paper."

"So would be the assumption," he counters, as easily as he can with sweat collecting at the back his neck, cold seeping into every inch of his body.

"And yet your hands are shaking."

They are, and there's no use in hiding them and yet he does anyway, clasping his hands tightly together behind his back. "Nervous tic."

'Nervous?' She grins, and he can see his death reflected in her smile. 'Of me? You have every right to be.'

"I suppose considering my tendency towards villainy, it's only understandable you should be nervous," Elsa says, and he pales considerably at how closely her words resemble…her other counterpart. "Understandable, and not entirely unwarranted."

"You're different." He has to say it out loud; has to hear the words for himself never mind what it actually did for her esteem. "You're not the same woman who froze half the fjord"–and killed the other half—wrought havoc on the whole of Arandelle.

"I will take your words as the compliment they are intended to be, and not a morbid reminder of the past," Elsa says coldly of course it's cold, she has no other setting. That's harsh. Justified, but harsh.

"And yet," she continues, and the temperature in the room drops minutely. "With all that in mind, just how long were you planning to lie to me?"

'Did you really think you could deceive me?'

"I'm…I'm afraid I don't-"

"To the point, then: when were you going to tell me about Carlos?"

"Carlos?" And he can breathe because he's not dead, and that was the one thing that not even the Snow Queen had known about; and yet he can't breathe because how did Elsa?

"Do not take me for a fool," she snaps, and he cringes because it was the furthest thought from his mind. "One would only need to look to see how he resembles you."

"How-?" he hisses, and if his hands clench into fists it was only to his credit.

"Contrary to what you might believe, I do have other ways of getting information than just by your hands, and it wasn't long before a rather scandalous article reached me regarding one young Carlos de Vil."

He feels that familiar twisting sensation of the Author's magic; his fingers curling around the Pen instinctively conjured into them; Paper crinkling in his waistcoat pocket when he takes a step forward, shoulders squaring.

"Is that meant to be a threat?"

Elsa lifts an amused brow, and yet the temperature in the room drops so drastically he nearly loses his breath.

"Have care how you speak, Isaac," she says softly, and he bites back the curse he wants to give; twitches his fingers to abscond the Pen to his pocket. "It was no threat, simply a statement. Depending on how the situation in Auradon turned out, I had intended for your aid in putting certain plans in place. Don't mistake my intentions for weakness."

A stab of cold goes through him that has less to do with her display of power as it is a sudden flash of his previous death at her hands- or rather, the Snow Queen's hands. He steps back, swallowing hard and inclining his head.

"F-forgive me, my lady." Idiot. Now is not the time to be passive aggressive!

"Tell me about him," she says, instead of spearing him through with her ice as he's half-expecting. "It's clear you care for him immensely."

Tell her? Tell her…what? 'He's the single greatest thing to ever happen to me but ultimately he couldn't be enough?' 'The last time I saw him was years (centuries? millennia?) ago right before a magical barrier went up and separated us permanently…and he was barely an infant then?' 'That even though I could just as easily have written my way onto the Isle to see him at any time, I didn't, purely to spite his mother, who, incidentally was my first and only love and simultaneously my greatest downfall?'

"I care for him more than you could imagine," he finds himself saying instead, fingers tight around the Pen concealed in his pocket.

"Enough that you would abandon him to protect him from yourself? I understand more than you give me credit for, Isaac," she says when he snaps his head up at her words. "With our mutual inclinations towards villainy in mind, then, I think it's only fitting."

"You think…what…is fitting?"

She smiles at him, and for once he doesn't see his death in it.

"You're going to want to write this down."